The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-15 00:00:00

workmsn a half-holiday en Saturday. All be could =ay
wigs. th it that was the first time be had nearil 611 Ch fill
tdjectlon n.ade, and tw ;ielieved that the operatives at-
etched the er,a,..est value to the enjoyment ofc a half-
iiolidsy on Stitir..ays.
Sir J. HOMIOUSE—The greatest impertsnce was
always attached to it by the np. rativee.
Sir G. GREY_- Hi, Right 11,..n. Fiend. whose eXPe;
ti( nce was much gr‘ater than his own, fully corroborated
Uuder tiiese circumstatiees, he hoped the Howe
.sould pause before it atlopted the sineudment of the
Noble L rd. The Hon. Geetliman opposite hod ttslked
of gord faith and honour, as if there was any violation of
either in carrying out the spirit of the Act u 1847. He
hoped the House would not be induced to reject the pro-
position he had submitted to it, and which offered, he
believed, the only satisfactery solution that could be ob-
tained o the question. He repeated lyrist the Hon.
Gentleman hail reminded him he had said on a former
occasion—that it wn( tniait desirable !hat the retoonab;e
wishes of the ep.,ratives should be attended 0. It W 44
in that belief that he had submitted that propisition to,
it., House ; anu he must say that. if the amendment Ur
the Noble Lord was adopted he should be covapsllcd to
ab stilton any •uttber charge of the (Hear, hear.)
Mr. BANKES observed that the Right Hon. Baru"
net had omitted to melee a statement of the Noble
Lord the M.anber for Colchester, which showed that to
a large portion of opetaiives the Bill would, so fir from
being a baon, be a decided loss. That statement wo,
that at the present moment 99 out of 100 op.-ratives
had the full benefit of the Ten Hours Ac.; and the Ho"'
Member who seconded the amendment observed that
the relay system met with so little sanction from manu-
facturers themselves, that public opinion would be sufli•
Meet to put it down if the law were left as it we& P
was for the House to consider whether. if this menu'
meat were not adopted, it would not be tester for the
operatives that no Bill should pass than that one should
pass which would confer no benefit on 99 out of 1.00
operatives. Ile thoueht there was nothing unfair in the
comparison which had been institt.ted between the con-
duct of. the Right Honourable Baronet in 1844 and the
principle of the Bill; there was an essential variance he'
tween the views of Honourable Members now on She
Treasury bench at that period, and their acts at the Pre.:
sent moment. None would be less disposed than he wee
believe that any imputation could rest on the charse-
ter of the Noble Lurd the Member for Bath. In this'
as in every action of his life, the Noble Lord, be be
lieved, was interested by a sincere desire to act in con"
formity with what he said and honestly intended to 'do;
and, since the Noble Lord stated so, it was manifest
that he regarded this as a good compromise for the
working people. But why should there be a comPo"
mice at all ? Under this Bill the range of hours W6e
not limited. As regarded children, it was still from
half past five A N. to eight P. N. ; yet that was the ates
whom it was the intention of their past legislation °Moil/
to benefit.

Mr. thouthat erin te
cumstances *underSTANFOßwhich tee tattrecons badid beeng set sae'
thy+ class of persons who were affected by the decision
f the Court of Exchequer were ei.titled to be placed in
the postion in which it was originally intended by
Parliament that they should be pieced. He should stir
port the amendment of the Noble Lord the Member for
Colchest-r.

Mr. NEWDEGATE inquired whether, in the opinion
of the Attornae-General, the insertion' of the words pre'
posed by the Noble Lord the Member for Colchester
would invalidate the,Bill? [The ATTORNEY-GENEBaIa
intimated that it would not.] Why did the Right 110'
nourable Baronet the Secretary for the Home DePart•
ment, in 1847, approve of limiting the hours of labour
to 58, and now propose to add two hours more ? The
effect of the amendment was to give the operatives the
advantage intended to be conferred by the Act of 1947'
It was lamentable that the Government should shrink
from their own acts. To such proceediugs—procee flog.
which were neither creditable to Ministers nor fair to the
operatives—he would be no party. He trusted in privets
lice he kept his word; and he said here, in his place;
that those who gave up the limitation of 1847 did no
keep their word with the factory workers.
Mr. MUNI Z observed that if be thought the fact:
tory question was now to be discussed, he might es`
Huneur.ble Members connected with trade whether it..
any one manufactory they worked ten hourtr-s tar
And if they did, whether they would net produce more
than what they had orders for ?' He would endow
vour to undress the ease—(Hear, hear, and a laugh)'
about which there had be. .n great mystification: .
question with Members of .that Howe was, what di
they vote for in 1847 ? Did they mean to give.
bona fide Ten Hours Bit: or not '.--(Hear, hear.) ,?°
far as his memory served, every .tnan who voted
the measure of 1847 fully intended that the parties
should have a bona fide Ten Hours Bill. The questieil.:-
then was, would the proposed measure give thefti-°
bona fide Tun Hours Bill, or would it rob 'them of two •
hours a week? If Parliament robbed them of two hours
a week, contrary to its intentions and declarations at
the time, what would Hon. Members think if the parties
interested said the Legislature had made a bungling job
of it, and asked an alteration in their own favour hr! •
reduction to fifty-six hours a week? Supposing las'
drew a bill on him for 3001., which he accepted; OP;
posing it was afterwards discovered that the stamp was 7,
wrong one, end he was to say to the man, "‘I won't Pin' •
the bill, but I'll give you 2804"—(Loud cries of " Hear.
That was a care in point. Parliament bad not only ,
off,red, but had given, a bond fide Ten Hours Bill; 'hip
it was now said to the people to whom the Bill had been a
given, " You shall work two hours a week extra." P:
should vole for the amendment, and, as an honest nis",
he could not do otherwise. If the House reversed the
vote of 1847, under the pretence that thereby the work"
ing classes would be benefited, they would do more
than by anything else to discredit themselves--(tlear)""
and to make the people believe they were not honestly
represented.
air. HEALD, as representative of a constittlell°7:l oe,
that was one-third the largest consumers of cotton opus „ea':
the face of the globe, begged leave to express his
upon the subject before the House. Upon the
ciples of honour and conscience, he f. It' himself cony
pulled to a certain conclusion upon this question. 111'1:I" as
vote was not in conformity with the interests of th-,014
people, it should be placed to the fault of his judgieepci,;l4,ir
in not corresponding with the judguient of those he ha
the honour to represent. He partly agreed will i".
Hon. Member for Montrose in his ob,ervation thst kig
was not only delicate, but dangerous to iu dterfere'
legislation with labour. He thought that they 174're "I
mere in danger by legislating too Much than by stik4:
ping short in the amount of legislation. He never can
understand why the hours of factory labour should eF
teed the.hours of labour of an ordinary workman..
Act of 1844 provided for those very young' persont,,sl, s*,9o
favour of whom he gave his vote that night. .fes
persuaded that the factory operatives believed it was' 0i;;, yet/
honest intention of Parliament to 'limit their hours!?,
labour to 58 hours in the week. It was then most da
gerous to weaken in their minds that perfect coovieu";io',f,
which they enterta ned in the integrity and the heil°l
of the British Parliament. He believed that they r:4l,
(erred the Bill that limited their time of labour. te,,e4
tJst
hours in the week, and if they did not receive a-eita.li: 8014'
measure there would be no settlement of the quesifet% ei'i
A syetern of agitation would then be created, the sit! 0'
~,,"411
of which rno person could tell. After a full exaniinsti°,l"'
41'
of all the bearings of this case, he felt that they
ass „/".`
gain considerably by maintaining the high stintla;;llijol
honour which it was the pride of Parliament topes`-.„e; ft,
even though for the time bring they should suffer S, 0.7 d ,001;
:inconvenience. There was the question of the supply gfo
,
cotton to those mills. He thought that ten hours n. dr.
would be, too much labour to expect unless they e°l!„e'• -"
get a moro certain supply of cotton. He locked e'ri,
immense interest to the motion of the Hon. Member le .04
Manchester.—(Hear, hear.) As a man of honour, t
felt he should support the amendment of the Noble
the Member for Colchester.
.Mr. HEY W OOD supported the The o(ate.;74
mauefacturers demanded an eleven hours Bill, iteu-:es 331
operatives demanded a ten hours Bill. The Govern •
offered a ten and a half, and he thought that it, wsieefit
perfectly fair compromise, and one calculated to
all parties. .
.10 .
Mr. W. J. FOX said that they had not tow to &cos.., •
on the policy of a ten hours or an eleven hours
whether they should confirm the former intention
Legislature as expressed in, the Act which it
liberately passed. In the present case he taw
for departing from the decision come to in 1847. 'T of
gencies of the trade did not require it, for instead °,a by
hours being an inconvenient maximum of time, Id
no means the average-which the factory operatives e,°tbes. ,
reach for some years to come. This Bill would , •
satisfy the Millownera' Association of • Mannheim, 1. ear
the factory operatives ; the former would be ne dissever. 0
fled as ever, and the latter more discontented tharl,„yoble,,,49l'4,
The Bill, therefore. appeared to him to be, as the
-Lord the Member for Colchester had described, ic.6e ',,
compromise of nothing but the faith and; hoDeurcrell.
Parliament. The Government had assigned to. tbe;l37o,
Coolies in Jamaica nine hours a day labour.;
atives
should they wish to make our own faCtoryoPwrlbilld •
work 10 i? He simply asked that the 11001° edeuht
keep faith with. those.people. There could be.°°,,;4 the
of the construction put upon the Bill of 1817,1"Letild-;
operatives themselies, and upon that feeling ban
z,
cheerfully support the amendment.—(Hear, hes.Fol62'eeire
Mr. Aide; matt. SIDNEY said the `
whether the Bill granted in 1847 was 10
flow, or whether advantage was to be taken of for Go.--
cal error and 58 hours a week imbstit„titceeire them'
(Hear, hear.) The Government would
I would be
selves greatly if they considered that this le, Its he did., ee
a settlement of the question; and renseewe'ennefiteturieg ,11`1ie
the excitement that prevailed •in 'the
were bel,f3" :d'lt)4l,oo
districts in 1830, the monster meetings .'",_,weeeed the ;ado'
and the agitation that was. organised, ee
such pressed.
House against again giving occasion to vierth.,o
ings on tbe part of the factory oueratives t
The operation of the Ten- Hoare.' Bill
aum•
been most satisfactory—the manneric the morals,
,d_.:tune,,,d
habits of the people had" been essentially - chop.
_tioo,
and reer es A 0. 0,,
had been afforded them for reflection a the
and they had been taught habits of providence; we_Yetetittir e)00,
who Ft:as was the caee, and whenahe ntaxiineal_f .•def,
of labour imposed upon -criminals was 10 'hetT_J_Zreige„-ii !$Ol
sirieelB47_,3lll,:!issll:ll
from which one hour was to be deducted for e_ldeteitt, lt,ol
and another hour for instruction, should they'' in
young persons under 18 years " rbcoir
,`1
.01 women
facLories, t,) labour 10f hours day? He entire Y
_,41,.10.010
cUrred., hat this was a question in which the honour le"
hould 'it 'AI4
in egrity the Heine were concerned, tend he ,
support the ,rtnendinent. ilierio
Mr. PATTEN said. this question had been hi
lu,p sly argued, simple ano solely npon the ess_r_ere:
tie', of a centract having been entered into. bet.....:/h
Parliament and the operatives, T.;e 1.,c;.- was thi'so-
-1847 the Ten Hours Act was, passed, after many y, al
di,ciivaion, and even then 'vial a Skuong teiding I soli
partuthosy of- the imoJlicy of the thelsure•
Sins
then, tis ;lie r,Titsentative of he county: of Line-
he had been requested over and over seamar 4l,
to gpt tile Act mo,i
l fied; true: be had aiWays advisedll7
friends no.• to inteire with the decision at which ...11
liftmeut had arrived. Now, however, When au oppvi,u

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