The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-20 00:00:00

was needless to say, lead to the moral, healthful, and,
as the Bishop of LONDON had stated, to the spiritual
improvement of the people."
We have high authority enough in the testimony of
St. PAUL himself that " next to Godliness, cleanliness
is a virtue," without applying to the Bishop of Low-
DON for his Lordship's private opinion on the matter.
And any one who has admired, as we have done—the
dexterous accuracy of our sleek diocesan—(when he
does walk)—in skipping over impromptu puddles de-
posited by water carts, or shirking gutters that have
not yet come under the supervision of his New
Churches Building Committee, will be apt to suspect
the Bishop of somewhat too decided a personal solici-
tude as to these objects, to attach much importance to
his views of their public influence. Of much graver
import to the country is the question whether the
anticipations entertained by the Committee, as
expressed in that part of the Chairman's speech
which follows, would be realised. Mr. COCHRANE
proceeded to remark—" The experience the Com-
mittee had had convinced them that the most
effective way of keeping the streets clean
was to prevent the accumulation of dirt by re-
moving the manure immediately after it was depo •
sited by the passing cattle. Hundreds and thousands
of able-bodied labourers would thus be employed, and
the pauper would be converted into an independent work-
man, and the great losses to which shopkeepers were now
subjected from the masses of mud and dust, would be
immensely diminished by a comparatively insignifi-
cant outlay. The shopkeepers of the two great
thoroughfares at the west end, to which he had
alluded, embraced with delight the proposition, and
the efficacy of it far exceeded their expectations."
Without pausing to consider how far the City of
London might be justified, under the circumstances
touched upon by the LORD MAYOR, in cancelling an
ill-executed contract for the cleansing of its streets
and thoroughfares, we have only to express our
most anxious hope, that the municipal authorities of
all the other great commercial emporiums of the
kingdom may set about investigating the extent to
which they can apply the same principle of
means of permanent employment for their able-bodied
poor. The scheme appears to us so simple, yet of
such grave moment, so singularly important, that no
time should be lost in bringing it into general ope-
ration all over the country. It might be made to
embrace so extensive a proportion of those whose
labour is at present useless to themselves and to the
State—to relieve so largely the burden of the poor-
rates—and to exalt so beneficially the feelings, the
character, and the social relations of the parties to be
employed, by restoring them to the ranks of honest
and independent labour, that we await the further
development of the plan, and, we trust its early
experiment, with equal curiosity and impatience.

Lord ASHLEY has egregiously disappointed the
hopes of all those who placed faith in his justice—his
consistency—his benevolence—by the course he has
thought fit to pursue on the important question of the
Factory Bill. There is no use in mincing matters—

:he stern truth must be told—he has abandoned, i

not betrayed, the cause of which, not three weeks
since, he declared himself to be an uncompromising
advocate, and let it slip through his fingers like
so much water. He is riow, just as lifeless and in-

different, as he once was energetic, in his advocacy of
the Ten Hours' measure. " The flaming patriot,"

s iy-s Jumus, alluding to HORNE TOOKE, " who so
lately scorched us in the east, now sinks temperately
in the west, and is hardly felt as ha descends."
And wherefore this vacillation —this langour
on the part of his Lordship—this unworthy aban-
donment of the vantage-ground on which he stood ?
Because, forsooth, the question is surrounded by
difficulties—is beset by complications and perplexi-
ties to such a degree, that he cannot see his way
through them ! Should he not have known this be-

fore ? Should not past experience have taught him
chat the Ten Hours' Bill was one which would task
his utmost energies, and be met by a vigorous oppo-
sition, both within and without the walls of Parlia-
ment ? If he did not mean resolutely to brave every
obstacle, and do his best to surmount it, why did he
take the question in hand at all ? Why raise expecta-
tions, only to disappoint them ? We have no notion of
t public man thus playing fast-and-loose ssith a great
cause—thus voluntarily sowing the dragon's teeth,
and then taking fright when he finds them spring-
ing up into armed men. Lord ASHLEY—there
is no denying the fact has abandoned post
after post to his opponents —in proportion to
the vigour of Sir JAMES GRAHAM'S advance has
been the rapidity of his retreat—and now we find
Lim in full flight from the field, for the purpose, as
he tells us, of taking up some other position which he
.veil knows is untenable, seeing that the whole neigh-
bourhood is in the full possession of the enemy. And
he has acted this ignominious spirit, because the
question is one beset by difficulties ! Why, this is
the very reason of all others that should induce a man
of any boldness or energy to grapple with it—to per-
evere in it to the last. Was there ever a great re-
medial measure yet agitated in Parliament that was
not beset by a host of difficulties ? Had Sir ROBERT
PEEL or Earl GREY listened for an instant to this
unworthy plea, the one would never have carried
Catholic Emancipation, nor the other the Reform
Bill. But Lord ASHLEY, it may be urged, has only
abandoned the Ten Hours' Bill for this session, and

sill agitate it with increased energy the next. We
wish to GOD he would leave it alone altogether, for
we now see clearly enough that he is not the man to
leal with such a mighty question. It is not for the
lwarf to wield the bow of ULYSSES.
Passing from his Lordship to a man of much more
" mark and likelihood," and carrying a much greater
seight of metal, we have a crow to pluck with Mr.
%YARD, of Sheffield, for some hasty remarks on the
Ten Hours' Bill, which fell from him on Wednesday

night at the League meeting in Covent-garden. He
told his hearers on that occasion that it was the

iheerest folly to legislate on such a subject,
and that the only way to do real good was
to attack the system that caused excessive la-

bour in factories. This is perfectly true, but what
is to be done in the interim with the poor overworked
women and children ? Are they to be left unpro-
tected, till the vast, complicated system that blunts
their moral faculties,.tiuins their health, and consigns
them to a premature grave, is wholly extinguished?
It may be years ere this desirable consummation is
effected, and are those who are now leading the lives
of slaves, oppressed by disease, penury, and suffer-
ing in their worst forms, to be expected to
wait patiently till then ? Pressing wrongs
demand prompt remedies, and no one can deny that
the case of the factory women and children calls for
the instant interference of Parliament. But, say our

opponents, trade will be injured—which, by the bye,
we doubt—by such interference ; well, be it so ;
trade is, no doubt, a great consideration, but it
is not every thing ; it is not the question of
questions—it is not the one paramount inte-
rest before which all others must give way.
The claims of the breeches pockets are by no means
Superior to those of humanity; and that wealth is
dearly purchased, which is purchased at the expense
of the health, the happiness, the temporal and spiritua
welfare of thousands of our fellow-creatures. Mr.
WARD went on to state—and he threw himself into
an attitude of elegant horror when he made the state-
ment—that if the Ten Hours Bill were carried, wages
would inevitably fall. Now, if hehad read the report
of the Delegates at the Sunday Manchester meeting,he
would have found that the operatives were prepared
for this alternative, and quite ready to submit to it.
Their almost unanimous opinion was, that it was
better to have less onerous labour, even if they re-
ceived less remuneration. They would take their
chance, they said ; and their determination, however
paradoxical it may appear, was a truly sagacious
one, and prompted by a generous considera-
tion for the comfort of their wives and children.
Precisely the same language was repeated at the last
Manchester meeting, at which Mr. WALTER, who
was present, met with admirable force of argument
the common-place, selfish doctrine that the Legisla-
ture has no right to interfere in matters of contract
between the employers and the employed. "In
reply to this," observed the speaker, " I will beg
leave to observe that the doctrine is only sound
dadneoafesnod ? Assuredlyegood,mele
when
themselves. the employed are able to
not. Are women
oaensdnot childrenthe ableaw
t
in-
terfere in all other cases to protect the weak ? Are
not infants, and minors, and persons of weak under-
standing protected by the law ?" To clove, cogent