The Sun.
London, England, 1835-07-27 00:00:00

rienced the utmost kindness and liberality from the
mill proprietors. Neither they, nor the great mecha-
nical engineers who construct their buildings and
machinery, use any mystery or reserve towards a visitor
actuated by legitimate feelings and principles, but, on
the contrary, most readily show and explain the
curiously-productive inventions which surround them."
The " light intellectual exercise " indulged in by
Dr. Ure in his tour was the arrangement of the
data forming the ground-work of this volume.
It is divided into four books. The first
treats of the general principles of manufactures ;
enumerates the great improvements that have been
effected in the process of manufacturing industry ; and
Points out the connection between its various branches.
The scientific Economy of the Factory System forms
the subject of the second book, including the several
processes in the fabrication of cottons, woollens, linens,
and silks. The nature and operations of the factories
for the manufacture of each of the above textile fibres
iS minutely detailed; the different processes clearly
explained ; and the comparative amount of manual,
automaton, and machine labour, with any further im-
provement of which the machinery appears susceptible,
fairly balanced and examined. The Moral Economy
of the Factory System, which is by far the most impor-
tant part, is discussed at considerable length in the third
book. The author contrasts the condition of the factory
operatives, as regards personal comforts, hours of labour,
health, state of knowledge and religion, with the actual
condition of
.agricultural labourers throughout the
country, and arrives at the conclusion that the factory
operatives are only not the happiest of men because
they do not choose to be so. Against most of the
arguments put forth in this book we enter our protest.
Dr. Ure---very foolishly we presume to think—rips
open the old sore of Trades Unions ; deprecates the
Ice7sdii Factory
conduct of Legislature with regard to Lord Ash-
Bill ; and without scruple, declares that
in all disputes between the employer and the employed,
the latter are chiefly, or rather only, to blame. To
him there appears nothing at all unreasonable in the
desire of masters to work children of tender years for any
number of hours in the suffocating atmosphere of a cot-
ton_mill. Now, with all due respect for the opinions
of Dr. Ure, and the authorities cited in his Philosophical
Treatise, a residence for many months in the vicinity
of several cotton and silk factories has led us to arrive
at an entirely opposite conclusion. During this period
few days passed over our head in which we were not
awakened in the morning by the cries of the children
Proceeding to the different cotton mills, and we pledge
ourselves that few sights of human wretchedness af-
fected us more deeply than the appearance of these
very children, dispersing at night after the toils of the
day, Every bone in their little bodies seemed stiffened
and contracted with fatigue, and their brows were ac-
tuall! furrowed, and their features distorted with the
agonized writhings of an habitual but vain resistance.
The losses
wnicn Dr. Ure enumerates as the result of
cre
unemployedrct ;
machinery and embarked capital may be
all o
but it is too much to purchase national
Prosperity at the expence of the blood of innocent
children.
Oneof the great faults which we have constantly reason
tofin
d with the political economists is, that they pay too
little
regard to human suffering in the individual, pro-
vided that such suffering tend to increase the aggre-
gatet of national wealth—falsely denominated national
414ness• Now this is a very deplorable error, inas-
much as it often leads to the most deplorable cobse-
tinences• A great capitalist, to add another thousand
to a stock which he intends withdrawing altogether
trom commerce, in the course of a year or two, may sa-
.thcsrieafiictiei tohfe
an hundred
or at least the constitutions and the
hundred children, and having obtained
1111seelohject of his ambition, fling them a miserable and
's burden
upon society. Here the wealth sought '
is obtained the nation has increased its aggregate
property to the amount of a thousand pounds—but 1
- Will any political economist undertake to say that the
nation is happier than it would be if the thousand
Pounds were buried in the depths of the sea, and
the hundred children restored to health, caa-
ble of earning an independent subsistence ?
T phis
is a plain case, and a hour's mystification of it would
leave it just where, and as it is at present. Let us
not, however, be understood to cast any reflection
upon the veracity of Dr. Ure. On the contrary, we
consider that he has reported, what fell under his im-
mediate personal observation, with candour and
rfide-
lity, What we blame him for, is a habit of making
assertions,tie s where he evidently depended upon interested
pa
for all information on the subject. Thrown
exclusively among the manufacturers, he listened with
a greedy ear to all they had to communicate ; and
without hearing what the workmen had to urge in
their Own behalf, at once set them down as disturbers
oa, the public peace, and destroyers of the morals and
comforts of themselves and families.
The Fourth Book is devoted to the Commercial
'
Economy, of the Factory System—a subject too com-
prehensive for the space, which we can afford to devote
t° a literary notice. A branch of industry which
gives manual employment to 614,200 operatives,
and which supplies a considerable amount of the
over-
rated ;
national revenue cannot have its importance over-
and Dr. Ure has brought to its considera-
tion a mind stored with practical knowledge. The
work deserves high praise ; the drawings with which
1,,t is embellished will recommend it to practical men.
We have only to regret that in treating of the disputes
which unhappily take place between the manufactu-
rers and the operatives, with regard to wages and hours
of work, Dr. Ure has written in a spirit of partizan-
ship more likely to create distrust than to allay passion
and extinguish animosity.

DR. ICIDD.—We extract from the Inverness Cou-
rier a part of the farewell address of this divine, found in his
repositories. He died last December :
, " Aberdeen, 3d October, 1833.
" I feel myself advancing fast to the grave, and upon a back
look of past life I can say, in truth, that God hath been very
merciful to me, and I now leave my testimony to his providen-
tial care of me, from my infancy hitherto. Ile has given
Illy heart's desire to me in my standing in society, and I bless
and praise him for all, and am willing to lay down my profes-
sorship and my ministry when he may please to call me to do
s°- I now bid adieu to the Universe, and to all things be-
deutded
ath the Sun. Farewell ye Sun, Moon, and Stars, which have
oowledmy wanderings in this valley of tears—to you I ac-
ztge much assistance in all my attainments. Farewell
thou Atmosphere, with thy clouds, and thy rains, and thy dews
--thy hail, and snow, and different breezes, which contributed
se much to my life and comfort. Farewell ye Earth and Sea,
have borne me from place to place, where Providence
has ordered my lot--a.nd with your productions have supported
dpi bodily wants so often and so long. Ye Summers and
WhWinters, adieu! Farewell my native Country, and every place
ere 1 have had my abode. Adieu, Aberdeen ! May peace
Prosperity for ever be in you—to all your Inhabitants
On Saturday at the Brentford Petty Sessions, a man
named
Croft • fine
d in a mitigated penalty and costs,
for • was ne ferrying over numerous visitors to the Eel-pie-house,
Twiel
--snuao3, in a punt belonging to the proprietor of the ta-
vern. The charge was brought by the watcrmen, who alone
are
wagesprivile to convey the persons from the shore. In de_
fence it d that the defendant was employed by Mr.
Mayo, of the Eel-pie-house, to ferry persons to the house, and
that no charge was demanded ; but the Magistrates considered
that the defendant made a livelihood of such pursuit by the
gratuities of' the persons he carried over, and inflicted the
Penalty.
WAR.--Among tile troops sent by the
Government against the Ciffres, the equipment and ap-
-I%aa"Crajtceroa fE
tho Swellendam Burghers are thus described by
i
tnr eye witness :—" Dutch boors in high crowned and broad-
aqmmed white hats, duffle jackets, leather trowsers, a pouch
balls strapped round the waist, and a large powder-horn
!at %log at the left side. They carry on their shoulder a
age roer, or rifle, discharging four balls to the pound ; and
re luounted on little shuffling galloways, with long manes
r 4,4 teas
.