The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-16 00:00:00

health - and constitutions of those persons who worked
fa,eici;e manfactories. In all cases in which the menu-
leines exercised a choice in the selection of those
th,„,,,,te, Who work in their mills they invariably chose
lv-„-Lu.ellin females who had children, because those Persons
OX, ore inclined to work regularly and longer, in
"th'e74t at they might gratify their attachment tovrards
titosPriog, by giving them more of the comforts and
fer4.l-a ies of life. With respect to the unmarried
he thought, from the information which he re-
obi„,F°lll sources which were well qualified to form
tat upon the subject, the large manufacturers
is Preferred the married females, although they
)111-11Kellerally speaking, untidy and slovenly. In the
14049, out of 22,694 persons employed in mills in
tkieater and. Stockport, in 42 mills, only 123 at-
teas„_, e age of 45 years, 16 of whom were retained by
kWirw.`4l4 favour. He had lately received a letter from
tedl? from a gentleman there, which fully j usti-
labc,Cm in asserting that the Bill for the limitation of
litiol,,,`"thni certain hours was likely to do good. A
km: sYstem prevailed in France, but in Russia the
4417°,1' put an end to the system which he (Lord
ltitechad been for 10 years endeavouring to do away
delliZklaear.) The present system tended to promote
erY, intemperance, and vice.—(Hear, hear.)
ttopg,e_, in Stockport, out of 1,264 persons
o 4 vo, not less than 846 were females.
kel subject (the condition of females in factories)
stiii7 letters from several manufacturing towns ; one
a4a, was from a medical man at Stockport ; it bore
itbe statements made by surgeons in other places,
modesthre women, working in factories with males,
ob,„laot able to avail themselves of those opportunities
utely necessary, and which any one would under
41-erothout farther reference to them. The state-
lar„ -IYonld not apply to all mills and factories, but
"many of them were so managed as not to be
of" from the censure. This was the testimony
There were
a public medical officer at Stock-
+nere were ether evils to which he must
Work' L, The females were superseding the males in the
orepi °L- the factories. In consequence of this the men
obliged to stay at home to mind the household
1;45 and the whole burden of supporting the family
•!lijrown on the women. Other evils again rose from
lac tate of things. The females were not only occupy-
Place of the males, but acquiring all the avoca-
ttiVtinners, and habits of men. There were now in-
taartlees called female clubs ; fifty or sixty females,
togetirt and single, formed a club, where they met
her ostensibly or mutual protection, but in reality
4447:'drilik, sing, and smoke; and their language at these
flitia Was represented as coarse, brutal, and disgust-
ootnetimes the men were obliged to call at these
l'ak,P get their wives to come home, and it was not
for them to refuse ; on one occasion when a
Went with a child in his arms to fetch his wife, she
brouir have to keep thee and the bairns too," and
knot return. But now, let the Ilouse observe how
ttallY the women were occuping the place of the
stii.) as they had imposed on them the duties and pH-
disole,, of supporting their husbands and families,
Attrler, violence, and insubordination of every
lioldiPtim were introduced into their house-
' lhti • The woman said she would pay no at-
. tlevta to her domestic duties ; the duty no longer
./1,1141e 'ed upon her ; if she had the toil and the burden
Would also have the amusement. The same system
'tiltZed equally injuriously on the children ; insubor-
loker°ll to their parents was one of the most frightful
11/44 0$ of the whole manufacturing system. If a child
4Rithe4rXected by its father, it would turn round, and say
•an oath, 44_ We have you to keep."—(Hear, hear.)
,
y said their parents had no right to interfere with
~eontrol, as, without their labour they could not
And this was said by children of tender years,
• o„,__"iny under thirteen and fourteen years of age. One
Alt c7en_, stated that when her husband chided his
...gilt..s for going to public-houses, they said
:to - would not come home—they had their father
4•‘!e_P, and not he them. And look what a ferocity of
'lltsi"co_ter this produced in the women. They might
iimitoct the outbreak that took place in the year 1842,
itoe:what ferocity the females exhibited on that occa-
Re had been told by one female, the mother of
1114 I; that churches and chapels were all of no use,
Vie, that all the talk about schools and education was
eif all
children while young had no time to go
—• She added that when he went to London she
°Pad
that that he would tell the House of Commons to
Itowle all this, or the next time the women
21 on , turn out, and then let the soldiers fire
therwlera if they dared ; they might depend on it
tlieJeelild be a break-out if the House of Commons
• Ntget make a change by taking the wives and daughters
of the factories, and sending the men and big lads
oc-glear, hear.) What said Sir Charles Shaw, the
thoZintendant of police at Manchester? He said that
otaConien, by being employed in the factories, lost that
tes,ol°4 to which they were ordained, and became like the
' followers of our army, bearing the form of
,‘,111e• n, but actuated by the worst passions of men.
th,,-"onien were always the exciters and the leaders of
Young men to violence in every outbreak in the
• hi,__,• baracturing districts. The' language they indulged
*Zs Of the most horrid description, and while they
~
40 demoralised 'themselves they were the contami-
%Whrs of all within their reach. With this he would
aqiede the statement he had to make to that House ;
4°w, he asked, would any one assent that such
wags should be permitted to exist ?—(Hear, hear.)
, 14%14,4 any one hesitate to lay the axe to the root
'a
, s tree, or, at least, to endeavour to lop off
e of
the branches ? What arguments from general
• ahi"c,'Ples would they adduce against his statements,
Ite,',%argtiments drawn from peculiar circumstances ?
Ztlld it be said—surely it could not be urged—that the
rar condition of England begot peculiar results?
aou erever this system prevailed, and it prevailed in many
4,44,tries in Europe, they found it producing the same
; In France, in Prussia, in Germany, in Switzer-
'
mi and in Russia, and, he might add, in the United
ipt produced the same results. He saw by the
,71n ‘
of February last, that a 811 had been brought
Pers„-le Leislature of Pennsylvania, to place all the
o,
under 'sixteen years of age employed in manu-
. Oetoc::a, under the protection o aim hours' Bill.l lln
,Cr last, he visited a great establishment iu Austria,
e vicinity of Vienna, employing several hundred
t() he went over it with the manager, and he detailed
ebun• f,‘,._ all the severe mischiefs—all the severe conse-
rr, ,e--that he had now related; labour prolonged 16
N ' 'tours a day—intense fatigue—enfeebled forms—
th:linent consumptive disorders, and early deaths--yet,
boilc'eality had every advantage—the houses were well
oral
It itood in a fine open country, and in a completely
ti,i3 district Nevertheless, so injurious were the conse-
a,ces of the system itself, that the manager stated that
• are', ten years, there would scarcely be in
tan neighbourhood one man able to carry
• los nsket. He had found a great change among those
aZ!_were formerly opposed to him. In 1833, he could
4171 y procure twelve master manufacturers to support
• Now he could have them by hundreds.—(flear,
4 4.) They had already before them petitions signed
millowners praying for a limitation. There were
• 0:1 in Lincolnshire who also supported him—some
t and many secretly, who hesitated to proclaim
teen, adherence. Even among the members of the Anti-
:'iatirßi'isvi League he could boast of having many firm
• tite• efficient supporters.—(Hear, bear.) Now, under all
' tekaspects in which the question could be put, the sys-
.' 1 must be abrogated or restrained. It formed a per-
' the grievance--it disturbed the order of nature, and
to 0.'104 of the labouring man. By consigning females
of," workshop, it obstructed them in the performance
ittsZl their domestic duties—it exposed them to almost
.irerable toil, at half the wages that would
, ; /tor' etiLen to the males for their subsistence.
bleat. `'-o, nay, it almost annihilated, the whole arrange-
A• lto of domestic life and management ; thrift ;was
kutether impossible ; if the operatives had twice the
' Lea Pt of their wages, they would scarcely derive any
liedeet from it. Everything ran to waste. If the woman
11%, ehild, it was deserted; the wife could do nothing for
Itelpueshand or her family—she could neither cook, nor
per take care of an infant. Everything must be
tlief,wr, and, in fact, everything was paid for out of
liob;,,,seanty earnings ; and yet, after all. everything was
• folrlectly done. Ignorance and recklessness were in
loelPeration. If the woman had no time to learn in her
tiat:4l, no leisure in her riper ears—if women were
tit to work in the mills and factories, everything
estia to ruin, for the males could not discharge every
tteke°l the duties especially appointed by Provi-
bite for the females. There was no occasion for
ti• ttv to dilate at length on these topics ;
' ehr„were amply stated in the report of the
41.h.ri '°,4les Employment Commission. Considering the
teti in a physical point of view, would the House
tout" deaf ear to all these complaints and sufferings ?
• 4)' they be indifferent to the physical effects of the
kil'ao, on the rising generation ? They had the tes-
%l i°f Dr. Hawkins, who, in speaking of Manchester,
• Po* ' oad never seen a town in Europe, of which the
totilittion exhibited such a degeneracy in form and
St: from the national standard. He had also the
hiN
'0 said
of a mill-owner, once an ardent antagonist of
iettahir said that if this system were continued, Lan-
, aeitr•Ne would become a province of pigmies.—(Hear,
*it, The emploment of females in the hardest toil
theirttt!aeteristic of savage life, but in the midst of
,*ive,""nement and civilisation they imposed on the
oott, and daughters of this land burdens from whichin the
eolol4t!,e'as East they would be exempt—in slave-holding
,L,.'es or in India. But every consideration of physical
fide into nothing compared with the moral con-
ef ozeen of the subject. They poisoned every source
ber, of happiness and of religion—they cut up root
olk rutell, all the relations of domestic life—they
tv.,eLs neeeall,9le..Fonnections and relations decreed by Pro-
br„ itself. There was a time to live, a time to
^se and a time to die—that they all, admitted; but
the py ere not also a time to live for the discharge of
ate ode°ll,lllgal and parental duty. They might talk of
Itious'antages of education, and of the necessity of re-
aatiottiinstruction. It was all in vain. There was no
eckcat• ',Vein of education—there was no system of
*raol.„1°11 whatever to supersede the influence of parental
• ar4Le:, Parents were ordained by Providence to exer-
44goi. almost unlimited power over the years of child-
all Whether prince or peasant—all that was best,
eard, as highest in the character of a man, he had
%%an at his mother's knee, or at least of
and soir'eus woman, who, with that tenderness
tate
of -denial peculiar to the sex, acted as the substi-
kat
.• year mother. Let them search the records of
'4411 they would find that all the best and most
earlytlC eult'v men, with very few exceptions, owed the
Theme hew!. ation of their minds, and the discipline of
;neat `Ls, to the affection and intelligence of a mother.
• mil sore, •
dried fes of moral and physical mischief must be
ofelior the sake of the health of the females, the
von; the control of parents, the duties and
home, the decencies of life, the relationship
4:Wa uurmand wife, for the peace of society and the
...°ote of ora d ; an never would he believe, till
h*lnch Gocl Houseshould have been given that night
vs,iel *ails of avert—that there could be found within
Who
()coo.' the House of Commons one single individual
"tt coaacientieusly and deliberately impose on