The Sun.
London, England, 1833-02-23 00:00:00

CUSTOMS.

An Account showing the Quantities of Corn, Grain, Meal,
and flour imported into the United Kingdom in the
Month ended sth February, 1833 ; the Quantities upon
which Duties have been paid for Home Consumption
during the same Month ; and the Quantities remaining
in Warehouse at the close thereof.

INFANT SLAVERY.

CITY MEEI'ING —(THIS DAY.)
Pursuant to public advertisement a meeting was this morn-
ing held, at the City of London Tavern, for the purpose of sup•
porting, by petition to the Legislature, the Bill about to be
brought into Parliament by Lord Ashley, for restricting the
tabour of children in all British factories to ten hours daily,
and for preventing any children under nine years of age from
being so employed.
The meeting was graced by the attendance of a numerous
and highly-respectable assemblage of ladies, who appeared
to take a deep interest in the proceedings. Among the gentle.
men who appeared on the platform we observed--
Lord Teynham, Lord Ashley,/ Hon, Mr. Duncombe, M.P.,
Colonel Torrens, M.P., Mr. Robinson, M.P., Mr. O'Connell
M.P., Mr. Sadler, late M.P., Mr. Wilks, M.P., Sir William
Blizard, Mr. Lyall, Mr. Alderman Venables, I4on. Mr. Fraser,
Sir Edward Knatchbull, M.P., Sir Andrew Agnew, M.P., Mr
Owen, of Lanark, Captain Brenton, R.N., Mr. Smith, late M.P.,
Mr. Carruthers, Mr. Helps, Mr. Freese, Mr. Nathaniel Gould,
Mr. Labouchere, banker.
The LORD MAYOR in the chair.
At about tweenty minutes after one o'clock the Loan
MAYOR appeared on the hustings, and, having taken the
Chair, amidst loud cheers, addressed the meeting to the follow.
ing effect :—Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to find so
large an assembly for so excellent a purpose.—(Hear.) It
would be very unbecoming in me were 1 to take up your time
in describing the sufferings of the poor factory children, when
I am surrounded by so many gentlemen who bate come from
the very spot, and who will tell you what they have seen with.'
their own eyes. I, like you, have been governed by thereports
I have seen, and I take it as a blot on the character of Engliste-
men to permit such scenes in this highly favoured country, as I'
am sure'you will have described to you this day. You know the
purpose for which we are assembled. Hitherto the average
number of hours during which these poor children are obliged
to work in these factories has been fifteen hours daily, and our
object is to have that number reduced to ten ; and when you
consider the overheated atmosphere of the rooms, lighted up
by gas, and the sufferings of the poor children, considering too
that they are kept awake at their work by the application of
the lash and the thong, no dissentient voice will this day, or
throughout the kingdom, be heard on this subject.—(Hear.)
In fact, T do not think that there is any feature in the
system of negro slavery, which equals in atrocity the treatmeni
of these poor children, as stated in the Report before the Com-

mittee in Parliament. When I was on a tour throughout
England and Scotland, about twelve years ago, I visited one of
the manufactories in Glasgow, and the children there em.
ployed were in a worse condition, actually, than the horses
in a post-coach. The fact is, that the masters have
no interest in protecting their health; and the good old
system of apprenticing children does not seem now to be
attended to Even in the West Indies the masters bad an

interest in protecting the lives of their slaves; but the poor
factory children were mere outcasts from society—they are
taken on to.day ; if they are ill to-morrow, they are set adrift
without any one to care for them.—(Hear, hear.) I will not
now go into the question of machinery, and I hope nothing
having a political tendency will be dwelt upon here; but this I
may say, that it was the opinion of those who advocated it,
that it would lessen human labour. But how is it
Instead of being lessened, the labours of these poor children,
were multiplied and aggravated. I could say a great deal. Last
year I went to Portsmouth, and I mention this to show the ne.

cessity of distributing labour—in the Dock of which place, in-
stead of reducing the number of days, instead of reducing the
number of men, thereby allowing some work for all,—if, in-
stead of keeping children at work for 1.5 hours, they were only
worked 10 hours, more children wodld be employed, and as a
magistrate, I can state, that half the crimes in this country are
caused by a want of employment.—(Hear.) If you give em.
ployment to the juvenile thieves of London, they will cease to
be thieves. This is a matter of importance, and I cannot resist the
opportunity of stating these important facts, that crime is
caused by a want of employment. I could send to the Marine
Society 1,000 children a.day, but there is no employment for
them. It is different with our charity children ; but those who
are not bound to masters, or employed as charity children, have
no means of employment. I assure you that Igo heart am.
soul in the objects of the meeting.—(Cheers) I will detail,
you no longer. Our Secretary, the Rev G. S. Bull, will addres
you, and state certain facts for your information.—(Cheers )
The Rev. G. S. Butt, incumbent of Byerley, said, he had
felt great gratification in receiving an intimation from the
committee of the London Society for Promoting the Improve.
ment of the state of Factory Children, to attend-this meeting
He trusted the proceedings of this day would be conveyed to
distant parts of the United Kingdom, especially to the manu
facturi►ig districts—(Hear, hear),—and that the impression:
they already feel there will be confirmed, that in the
metropolis of this great kingdom, and that in the
heart of the Chief Magistrate of the chief city in the world,
there is a great sympathy in behalf of those poor children

(Cheers.) In those districts they had long been aware of that
feeling, and they felt great gratitude to the public press for it,
advocacy of their cause.—(Cheers.) The object of the meeting
in requesting him to attend was to detail some facts which came
to his knowledge, from his observation, during a seven year,'
residence in the manufacturing districts—and to detail tht
system of labour to which those children were doome,

from a very early age. Those children were roused early it
the morning from their beds: he had known instances in which
parents had sat up for a considerable portion of the night, in
order that their children should not be too late in the morning.
At five o'clock, and sometimes at four in the morning they are
roused by their anxious parents, who have been watching those
slumbers. In cases where the parents were so poor that they
had no clocks, it was not uncommon for children to start from
home before their time, fearful of being too late, which would
bring punishment on them ; and the other morning, a stranger
in Byerley found two children crying in the street, who he
found were factory children, anxious not to be too late for
fear of being punished.—(Hear, hear.) The children while
at work were not allowed in many instances to sit down. In
Byerley, where he came from, except at one mill the children
were not allowed time for breakfast, and when spinning was
bad it was impossible for them to get refreshment at all, and
they continued from six o'clock in the morning till twelve
o'clock_ without any refreshment; at twelve o'clock they were
allowed half an hour for dinner, and then they worked ordi-
narily until seven in the evening, but when trade was brisk,
or when any machinery had broken, they had to work longer.
In September last, in a factory at Byerley (and he spoke from
facts under his own observation), children were employed
from six in the morning till half.past eleven at night; and it
was not unusual in the last four or five years for them to be
employed until that hour on Saturday nights, and to be called
to work again an hour afterwards, viz., at half.past twelve
on Sunday morning, thus desecrating the Sabbath, and depriv-
ing those children not only of bodily rest, but of all
their religious privileges.—(Hear, hear.) It had been said that
ministers of religion had nothing to do in this matter, but he, as
a minister of religion, was of opinion, that of all others this was
a subject which called loudly for his sympathy and interposition.
He had heard a fact but lately, which was told to .a gentleman
by the Rev. Mr. Hearn, of Manchester, who stated that his
brothers in the gospel were under the necessity of giving the
factory children small catechisms, which they were obliged
to hide under their clothes, for fear their overseers should fino
them.—(Cheers.) He would now go on to detail the manner in
which the poor children were used. They continued at the
factory till a very late hour in the evening; they had then
frequently to walk several miles to their homes, tired and jaded
to death. An an early hour in the morning they were obliged
to go to their work through rain and snow. After arriving at
the factory, drenched to the skin, they were obliged to stand
in their wet clothes the whole day.—(Cheers.) This was no
ideal description or picture of fancy, the facts continually occur,
and had called forth the sympathy of the British public. Ile
would now allude to the punishments these poor children tin.
derwent : they were beaten up to their work by an instrument
like the one he now showed the meeting.—(The Rev. Gentle-
man here held up a lash of leather with a large knot on it, the
sight of which appeared to convey a general shudder
through the whole meeting.) That strap he had received
from the father of some children who were employed in a
factory at Byerley, from which he was obliged to remove
them in consequence of the inhumanity that was exercised
towards them. The overseer being in the habit of putting
the heads of children between his legs and then beating them
till their bodies were so bruised that they could not rest in
their beds.—(Shame, shame.) The strap, however, that he
had produced was, in comparison with others that were
used, a merciful one. Such being the facts of the in-
humanity exercised towards these poor children, he would ask
any one, whether the ordinary working of the system was not
such as to require legislative interference. He was much
gratified to find that the sympathies of the inhabitants of Lon.
don were aroused on the subject.—(Cheers.) They had be ti
never known to turn their back:: on the cause of the needy and
oppressed, and he trusted they never would.—(Cheers.) Those
who had never turned a deaf ear to the cause of the negro
slave, he hoped would pursue the same course to the poor
factory child.—(Hear, hear.) The Rev. Gentleman concluded
by proposing the first resolution, expressive of the detesta-
tion of the meeting of the conduct pursued towards the poor
factory children, and of their determination to do all in their
power to support a Bill for ameliorating their condition.
Mr. GouLn, in seconding the resolution, observed that lie
thought the system ought to be put an end to imme-
diately, and that they should look to the emancipation or
the slaves at home before they attempted to do it abroad. Ile
had only known of the meeting that morning, but he had
great satisfaction in coming forward to do all in his power for
the abolition of such a system. He was not a new convert to
his present opinions upon this subject. One gentleman,
late Mr. Nathaniel Gould, of Manchester, wno was the very
first to stir in the question, was an uncle of his, and him lie
had assisted all in his power.—(Cheers.) That gentleman
had spent the greater part of an exceeding long life
making the attempt which he hoped was now about to be for

all the zeal of his lamented relative, and, added to that, a
greater share of talent. To that man (Mr. Sadler) they were
indebted for the meeting, and he considered it a disgrace to
the country that he was not now a Member of the Legislature,
so that he might himself perfect the good work which he
had been the great means of bringing to its present fa.,
vourable state.—(Hear, hear,) He hoped that that party
who had first opposed Mr. Gould, and who had followed
up that line of policy, and also opposed Mr, Sadler, would be
obliged to succumb to the feelings of the public, so loudly ex.
pressed as it' now had been upon this great and important, as
well as humane ohject. The party who were opposed to
this measure, talked a great deal about cheapness, but was it
to be allowed or thought of, that Ladies would grudge
sixpence a yard more for their dresses, or put it in com-
petition with the five or six hours of cruelty which were
imposed upon these poor children, who were employed
in the manufacture. He trusted that in a very short time he
would see the shameful and cruel system entirely put an end
to. He felt great pleasure in seconding the resolution.
The resolution was then put from the chair, and was passed
•
unanimously.

Mr. O'CONNELL then rose, and said that since he came into
the room he had been solicited to propose a resolution. Ile
had looked over it, and was both proud and happy to do so.
The resolution was to the effect, " That that meeting expressed
their opinion that the gains of oppreision were a national cala..
mity, and a Legislative enactment was imperatively called for. ,
He concurred entirely with the seetiments expressed in the
resolutiou. He came there for the purpose of expressing his
individual sympathy towards those children, and his determi.
nation of humbly co-operating in putting an end to that dread.
ful system. He was a father, and knew what it was to love
one's children. The childrn of the rich, if they had property,
were protected by law. The king, as the head of society;
was invested with authority, which he delegated to his •
Lord,Chancellor, to protect the children of the rich.—'
Why ware not the poor chpdren to be protected by law P They •
hard no property—but he denied it upon the pridciple that their'
,labour was their property. It called upon them to become the.
Lord Chancellor and. protector of poor cnildren. It was st_
disgrace to this country that such s sivtem ef-daftry should
exist in this country. The child was deprived of its rest—no
time allowed" for recreation—worked till it could not stand—
ruined its eonstitUjion ; and; if it outlived its childhood,
crippled for the rest of its life.—(Hear, hear, hear)
He knew that it was wrong in general principles to interfere
between the labourer and his ernplqer, and that legislative in-
terference in such matters seldom worked well, because it was "
against the principles no whicn society was held together. But
when he saw that the state of society had become such that
the pressure of want overcame the parental feeling, the princi-
ples of political economy must give way along with your
calculations ; away with your sums of vulgar arith.
metic ; away with the pounds of cotton and yards of silk.
(Hear, hear.) - Away with all these; said he, for the question
if one of humanity ? What were we heare for ? Not to heap
up wealth, and leave it those who, perhaps, care little for us
when we are gone. No, we are accountable feelings, account.
able for the exercises of the feelings of charity and humanity.
—(Hear.) But they were told that the evidence given before
the Parliamentary Committee on this subject was fabricated,,
that it was got up by a set of enthusiast, good.hearted men,
whose judgments had failed them. Hisanswer was that this was
an open public committee, in which it would have been easy to'
have given evidence of a different kind. And were these atrocities
committed in secret ? Did they take place in a corner? No; every
manufactory was proved to be a hive of swarming misery. The
clergy of all denominations had adduced facts which could not
be controverted, and inferences, borne out in characters of
wretchedness, Besides, were not the miserable creatures pro-
duced by this factory system brought before us ? _Did we not
see their emaciated limbs, their ruined constitutions, their
hollow eyes, their hectic cheeks, their decrepitude of prema-
ture old age stamped upon them.—(Loud cries of " Hear,
hear.") He could not be brought to believe that the system'
of cruelty was necessary. No doubt it might make a few rich
more speedily than otherwise; but riches would not be di.
minished; and surely the getting rid of such a mass of human
misery is on object chiefly obtained by the delay of getting
wealth. He trusted in God—be hoped he did not use the
name profanely—that he was not mistaken in appealing to:their
feelings of humanity on this occasion. It had been said
that 10 hours was too short a period for Middlesex. Good
heavens! 10 hours too short a period. Why the only thing
he complained of was, that the friends of humanity could have'
brought themselves to so long a period. He would not give an
additional moment —(Loud cheering.) He would be willing
to vote for a nine hour or any shorter time Bill, but some,•
the most forward friends of the factory children had agreed to
ten hours a day, he would support a Bill to that effect. But
hey were told that even such a Bill, giving so much labour to
children, would be powerfully opposed, that persons in au.
hority would resist it —(Hear.) He only hoped that
the people of England would clearly undcrstand this,
and he doubted not that the humanity of the
,eople of England would speak in a voice .Mich would suffi-
ciensly intimate to those parties that their opposition would be
,illitless --(Hear, hear, from Mr. Sadler,) The public would;
iowever, tell them, that they might have great national
,Lojects in head, but that being deficient in homanity, a check
lionld be placed to their curbit in this matter. The people of
.F.ngland would speak in behalf of the children, who had no
ongue but to wail, no voice that did not utter the words of
aetentation. He meant to introduce no political feelings into
nis meeting ; and in what he had said, he cast aside every
t ling but considerations of humanity. He had eeme here for
hat exclusive purpose, although his breast was swel ing, and
its mind tortured by political questions.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HELPS seconded the motion. He would confine himself
o two points. First, he would endeavour to disprove the ill-
linened prophecy, that if this measure succeeded the fore gn
trade of the country, particularly in the staple cotton manufac.
cure, would be involved speedily and surely in absolute ruin.
(We shall give the conclusion in a Second Edition )