The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-29 00:00:00

THE lA6Toitls BILL.
.- (PROM THE 'COUNTRY' PAPERS.)

The debate, on -.the hours of work clauses in the
Factory,,Bill came to a most singnlar issue on Friday.
The Government were then beat by Lord Ashley, and
Lord Ashley was then and there vanquished in turn
by thi:GOVernmeht, on "the same subject, in the space
- of a few minutes,- and without, the change, addition,
or suhstraotion ;of - a single man among the voting
parties: Of 169'llembers present, 186 voted against
the twelve hou,K.c.lariae; and 183 for it, leaving an,
adverse .inajeritY— of 3. -When 'the -teh hours' pro-
position of Lord Ashley, immediately afterwards, was
put before the same'369 senators, 181 voted for it,
and 188 against. it, thus throwing it out by aMajority
Of 7. What is the meaning of thisli Is -it a
clear and simple case of self-steltification on the part
of the House? Or are.w.e to suppose some Members
'to hive been: present Who' opposed both propositions
'because they disapproved altogether of legislative in-
terference ? Though the latter ground has 'by *no
means- been taken up openly and 'stronglY,' it affords
the:only rational, mode of explaining these two Suc-
cessive divisions. Certainly the motives of Members
on both sidekiiiiiit be, heterogeneous. The same rea-
soning; -Weitfiagine, could Scardely• eVer bring, Sir Jas.
Graham, Mr. Labouchere, and Mr. ,Bright to, join
issue on the!. one-hand, and unite on the other Lord
Ashley, Lord - `John. Russell, 'and Mr. ThOmiS Dun-
combe. 'Whatever be the causes of the' late extraor-
dinary„ votes, 'we heartily wish that the House
would take* warning by , the "unwonted' discre-
pancy of opinion among all parfies, and leave
the matter where it was left by chance or fortune.
on Friday night—that is to say, adopt no hour.de-
terinininglegislative proposition whateVer, but :endea-
vour to impNve, the cenditiOn of the, manufacturing
operatives by measures of less doubtful propriety.
Where, we may ask, should interference stop, if so
unequivocally , entered. upon Has Lord Ashle_y no
Sympathy for themultitudes,of :peer women in Lon-
don, and all our large cities, who "stitch, stitch,
stitch"' from dawn to :midnight, and sometimes from
midnight to. daWn agaipi for a pittance far smaller
even than that eAteed 111111. t oTicl3 P. 'T. h. -..nc;.f.nt,
he ought to interfere for their relief no lesS warmly
than for that of factOry inmates' In a thousand
other cases, also, .the same plea exists 'for, intermed-
ding. It w0n14213i1 dangerous to establish the pre-
cedent, or at least to carry it beyond a mere protee-
tion for the Very young ,who -cannot judge for them-
selVes.—Scotrmany • •
We * ifegret' deeply- the deCision - the Government
with iegardl'ld LOC'Ashley'S motion. HoWever
" inextricable" the "confusion',' caused V. the two
divisimis of-Friday last atr ia.abundwitly . clear that
,the voice , Parliament'. has "decisively. pronounced
'against the proposition' of :ftpire- hi:Mrs -.as the limit
for the) labour of females and young persons ; and the
responsibility resting thus upon X.).arhament, it would
be a' gracious act on •the part, of the Ministers to,
accede to the opinioitlie 'dearly expressed. It must
be quite Mineeessaty. fer Ourselves to repudiate any
participation in-irIP Jul:4'4'4nd unjust censures, which
some even of our Conservative ConteMpotaries have
cast urn the Government in respect of the course
Which in this matter they have felt it their duty to
pursue ; bait. it is notwithstanding most unfortunate
that . last year, `when on the :educational clauses of
the then Factories Sillthe pressure on the Govern-
ment, proceeded from the opposite direction, they
should have been induced. to gave wax, and that this
year,: when the pressure :is from their own friends,
they should perse.vere unshrinkingly and with so much
determination as to, produce from the mild. and ami-
able Lord Ashley a complaint that they "added insult
to injustice," . We- are Sure that Lord Ashley was
• Mistaken, in thii idea.;
,but that such a Man—one of
their . own firm supporters, onetoo who by his, re-
fusal or offiee • for the sake of this very question
'had' pioved iridisktably• his earnestness and sin-
cerity, . shetild think himself,. owing to the incau-
tious language of the ;Hine eSecretary, exposed to
such treatment, is, we ,repeat, a great misfortune ;
and we fervently hope:that the Government may not
hereafter IniveLea,tise-to rue the course which they
have taken:;:af';the,y theMselves believe, the in-
,tereata:,, of the -country, require:' them to resist the
proposition of Liird Ashley, we are Willing to admit ;
but-we billievgatt'the same tinie _equal sincerity
that then, and, not Lord: :Ashley, , are wrong ; and
seeing, as Sir RObeirt.ltiglis reminded them, that they
are en thiS: oneasieb.i, supported by • their habitual -
opponents and ,opposed V their habitual, supporters—,
(no' less thaw ninety; three Conservative Members
voted against Ministers last Friday), it .ought ,at
leatt to awaken so much doubt in the mind of Sir ,
Jame c4r4haw.asl4l preserve Lord Ashley and those ,
Conservatives who act with him from the imputation
Of pursuing a " Jarla Cade ": line of action, - 'But ob-
serve, moreover, the inconsistency. of ;those who, pre.
fer such-a .eharge. :-The" Government themselves pro-
pose tO :the'. ho \rm. of , labour -to .twelve; Lord
Ashley seeks A further." reatrictien"tO-ten. Manifestly,
therefore, thesquestion at issue between the two par-
tiei 'is one Of degree, -not of principle ; and conse-
' qiiefitly,. if 'the "' Jack 'Cade"- accusation have any
applicability', all; it, must apply to the :Govern-
nient ,meusure equally,, with that of Lord Ashley..
['low dangerous, then, is it for those who live in glass
houses to east•stotie&,!thus.. around them 1--Brighton
Garrtte: ..
Asiisual; WS'lind outrageous mis:..state-
ments passing_ current in ,parliament, and through the
press,,:ill reference_ to, this, ,measure; and, unfortn,
rdely; nobody seems -able and willing. -to disabuse
the public mind on the -subject. ' What, indeed, can.
be more, glaring than the repeated assertions of the
Standard, tbat.rdariy Mills' are now' working only ten
hours a day, and that factOry labour is at present ex-
ceedingly irregular ? That journal, on. Monday last,
says . • • " . .
" We remember to have heard, And not very long
since Warty-or fifty mills idle in &single town, and of
the re 4 a,OO ixiills in,that town', working but half time
We knoWthat at present Manyy mills. work but ten hours;
and from all weave been able to 'coned - upon the.sub-
ieCt, we are convinced, that instead of _Working 3,11,0
hours a year, or ten-hours day 'for the 311 working
days of the year, the• sum totrti of the mills
,do hot work
two-thirds, 0r,2,000 hours, if indeed theY Work., quite
half the time, - taking. the _average, of periods of five
'years, , • -
'We wislithe ,Standard Would . tell -us where the
Mills working oily. ten hours• a day are to-be found,
txtept. in: a' period of Excessive depression of trade,
such as the one.to which'allusion is made at the coin:
inencement- of' the precedingextratts,' there. neither
are r'nor have boleti oy in this district; and we feel
confident that there :are none' -elsewhere. Ttis true,
that Mr. John Yielden, tried' an :•experiment of the
kind few years ,agii—an experiment Which, if we
mistake -not,, lasted exactly three days !--the honour-
ablp Oitlerhait having been fully convinced, • even in
that short Wile, that it would be attended with a most-
serious loss -to .himself. The 'other assertion of the
Standard, that' the Workpeople • employed in facto-
not; on ari)72average of five •. years,
more than half ler two-thirds of ten
l ours .(that from 'five •to sit-and-a-haW
hours)" per day, monstrous .a
-falsehood as wee
rrecollectt:th(liave niev with; .and its absurdity is quiter,
*koorisiiicuous, asTitaavant of truth. If the people: