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

14 -1-;.'"."."'"""...............---..1 ,
4 th4;ta and constitutions of those persons who worked '
litetsre taaufactories. In all cases in which the maim-
fesgsrs exercised a choice in the selection of those
N.7,21vh0 work in their mills they invariably chose
were" females who had children, because those persons
0
sr.tfraat they
o,de4.!!sere inclined to work regularly and longer, in
might gratify their attachment towards
We sPrtUg, by giving them more of the comforts and
Ise".."essaries of life. With respect to the unmarried
ttiq,,he thought, from the information which he re-
tsepinFaul sources which were well qualified to form
thei,,,k'n upon the subject, the large manufacturers
ite.i: Preferred the married females, although they
Lear illnetallY speaking, untidy and slovenly. In the
sz,„l 9, out of 22,694 persons employed in mills in
I,47vester and Stockport, in 42 mills, only 123 at-
,salieeivgaith, age of 45 years, 16 of whom were retained by
4l favour. 'raw. He had lately received a letter from
M 1 h;,„":anw a gentleman there, which fully justi-
abou-". In asserting that the Bill for the limitation of
akii.-"hin certain hours was likely to do good. A
P.lspe'rosystem prevailed in France, but in Russia the
kdils,,j,_ Put an end to the system which he (Lord
Wits;.,,aad been for 10 years endeavouring to do away
(104,,,,,V95ear.) The present system tended to promote
4i ,;"`merY, intemperance, and vice.—(Hear, hear.)
titige.., Mill in Stockport, out of 1,264 persons
Ps thf.% not less than 846 were females.
Set:;• subject (the condition of females in factories)
o< the thereletters from several manufacturing towns; one
it the was from a medical man at Stockport ; it bore
thlt In Statements made by surgeons in other places,
WepetiNest women, working in factories with males,
‘iee°t able to avail themselves of those opportunities
Ned ''Y necessary, and which any one would under
s- aithout farther reference to them. The state-
Weqryt_wauld not apply to all mills and factories, but
4 „ebiarli of them were so managed as not to be
''t s ;mfr the censure. This was the testimony
het, ',„,-itayner, a public medical officer at Stock-
illoie. shere were' other evils to which he must
woli 0, The females were superseding the males in the
bl 5 ' the factories. In consequence of this the men
itti°bligad to stay at home to mind the household
Wkaatid the whole burden of supporting the family
!itittZ,wn on the women. Other evils again rose from
lat„ tti,,"u,nf things. The females were not only occupy-
-404, ' Place of the males, but acquiring all the avoca-
ktei:aaners, and habits of men. There were now in-
Skns called female clubs ; fifty or sixty females,
Net." and single, formed a club, where they met
Li her ostensibly e, for mutual protection, but in reality
Nett, aa, sing, and smoke; and their language at these
ig sometimes
was represented as coarse, brutal, and disgust-
tisitt
WistßZ get their wives to come home, and it was not
it, for them to refuse ; on one occasion when a
144.,:`,nt with a child in his arms to fetch his wife, she
Nid A have to keep thee and the bairns too," and
b;Ot return. But now, let the House observe how
Ilies, 71Y the women were occuping the place of the
IS Qs they had imposed on them the duties and pri-
,l4o4o' supporting their husbands and families,
vtet.i„.,`r, violence, and insubordination of every
,4sisa.ti'aln were introduced into their house-
piiO4 The woman said she would pay no at-
'oh„ ui to her domestic duties ; the duty no longer
.4t wZ 1113011 her ; if she had the toil and the burden
1hk,..„"41d also have the amusement. The same system
o
N toeqiially injuriously on the children ; insubor-
StetZ their parents was one of the most frightful
Of the whole manufacturing system. If a child
taCtrected by its father, it would turn round, and say
).141 Path, ..We have you to keep."—(Hear, hear.)
4,4
ittpg, said their parents had no right to interfere with
kL.eraitrol, as, without their labour they could not
Ilsri' And this was said by children of tender years,
,bdek:ll' under thirteen and fourteen years of age. One
goo de stated that when her husband chided his
kViten for going to public-houses, they said
e would not come home—they had their father
tlithieP, and not he them. And look what a ferocity of
hesi ter this produced in the women. They might
kli set the outbreak that took place in the year 1842,
tirk. What ferocity the females exhibited on that occa-
-041441:le had been told by one female, the mother of
INA a, that churches and chapels were all of no use,
itlOat all the talk about schools and education was
lb the
L,the children while young had no time to go
fired ohe added that when he went to London she
tlist that he would tell the House of Commons to
„4. all this, or the next time the women
ciii turn out, and then let the soldiers fire
them if they dared ; they might depend on it
fliStiewuuld be a break-out if the House of Conair3ns
?It oft Make a change by taking the wives and daughters
ks.ibthe factories and sending the men and big lads
kkzear, hear.) ' What said Sir Charles Shaw, the
Ilit's,,o tendant of police at Manchester? He said that
Nit tior,taen, by being employed in the factories, lost that
itszle`lo which they were ordained, and became like the
o% followers of our army, bearing the form of
ti,!, but actuated by the worst passions of men.
As women were always the exciters and the leaders of
'Lasirug men to violence in every outbreak in the
,41„aeturing districts. The language they indulged
lwese7af the in..st horrid description, and while tli.y
Illiteri"emosslised themselves they were the contami-
4l_ uf all witl- a their reach. With this he would
ude the statement he had to make to that House ;
~is:"'w, he asked, would any one assent that such
44 should be permitted to exist ?—(Hear, hear.)
f t 4 any one hesitate to lay the axe to the root
Isst, 4) trees- or, at least, to endeavour to lop off
Iliti.°l the branches ? What arguments from general
es would they adduce against his statements,
"sei/dttgaments drawn from peculiar circumstances ?
Nli It be said—surely it could not be urged—that the
IN," Condition of England begot peculiar resui.ts?
sever this system prevailed, and it prevailed in many
wsittdres in Europe, they found it pAeducing the same
ltisz:. In 'Prance, in 1.......5ia, in Germany, in Seitzer-
katt.:)-ad- in 1 assia. and, he might add, in the United
tPers I:,.t"''..l•Nei ' the same results. He saw by the
to th -. ----•`-‘h}liT., ;..01,. that a Bit had been brought
/None LegiSlGSltivirec.PMennsylvania, to place all the
(Krill under sixteen years 61 Kge, employed in . menu-
Lvetolfs, under the protection of a ten hours' Bill., 1 In
tti th7r last, he visited a great establishment is Austria,
kte)7 vicinity of Vienna, employing several hundred
to hiL he went over it with the manager, and he detailed
14. Z all the severe mischiefs—all the severe conse-
e lilB---.. that he had now related; labour prolonged 16
Zati,nutu_rs a day—intense fatigue—enfeebled f
'lilt,
local consumptive disorders, and earlydeaths—yet,orms—
. 'Ay had every advantage—the houses were ell
NI
~t stood in a fine open country, and in a completely
tit!erie:striet. Nevertheless, so injurious were the conse-
ktithi' of the system itself, that the manager stated that
i'l the ten . years, there would scarcely be in
%Saw neighbourhood one man able to carry
00 s, 'l' He had found a great change among those
N•44ll7lere formerly opposed to him. In 1833, he could
1, 4 procure twelve master manufacturers to support
this) procure
he could have them by hundreds.—(Hear,
any
They had already before them petitions signed
NI), .uldlowners praying for a limitation. There were
k,lll Lincolnshire who also supported him—some
h y+ and many secretly, who hesitated to proclaim
rerence. Even among the members of the Anti-
a_Nefti!' League he could boast of having many firm
fils
to
supporters.—(Hear, hear.) Now, under all
s',-, kV's, in which the question could be put, the sys-
%aal '`', ue abrogated or restrained. It formed a per-
" ritrt'levance—it disturbed the order of nature, and
st.ite Bof the labouring man. By consigning females
01 workshop, it obstructed them in the performance
11'Met;14 domestic duties—it exposed them to almost
It. tiveult toil, at half the wages that would
k.?ket.an to the males for their subsistence.
14-`44 ,7
~ nay, it almost annihilated, the whole arrange-
, sZtetlig domestic life and management ; thrift ,was
lon4t et impossible ; if the operatives had twice the
cash frf their wages, they would scarcely derive any
44 ath°,lll it Everything ran to waste. If the woman
%2 lku, it was deserted; the wife could do nothing for
01.110,711 d or her family—she could neither cook, nor
d A,pr take care of an infant. Everything must be
itets4t and, in fact, everything was paid for out of
i panty earnings ; and yet, afterall. everything was
) o/14"Y: done. Ignorance and recklessness were in
11111, ,sation. If the woman had no time to learn in her
t; ,40 leisure in her riper years—if women were
sZtit,:',N_York in the mills and factories. everything
4_ of Tl_ ruin, for the males could not discharge every
Ice fo'ae duties especially appointed by Provi-
IL ter the females. There was no occasion for
ta ~,,,e dilate at length on these topics ;
SsiTitsteta amply stated in the report of the
.11 s E
‘kt i raployment Commission. Considering the
tZ1,1.(1,11 a physical point of view, would the House
it,7 tlwar ear to all these complaints and sufferings ?
-4"14 04-Y be indifferent to the physical effects of the
k,
Lay of the rising generation ? They had the tec-
h L't Hawkins, who, in speaking of Manchester,
, miead_ never seen a town in Europe, of which the
ht
t%u ...!
nom
exhibited such a degeneracy in form and
144:Aony In the national standard. He had also the
%.11'.'ho '3.f a usill-owner, once an ardent antagonist of
lolls. said that if this system were continued, Lan-
ai. - as) i
N.,0. Thu.l become a province of pigmies.—(Hear,
thi%tu.it: !rnploment of females in the hardest toil
Ai? fleLeristic of savage life, but in the midst of
IN,,ssa,,tpaient and civilisation they imposed on the
'llirs, daughters of this land burdens from which in the
Otsi4 East they would be exempt—in slave-holding
Si'' sank ‘.r in India. But every consideration of physical
rkta ' ht° • with the moral
of tic% 0, nothing compared
krtles. Detthe subject. They poisoned every source
tkitbrtineCtPpiness and of religion—they cut up root
;id ean th" 11 the relations of domestic life—they
Irk ZeO its:v"knections and relations decreed by Pro-
Iwti ,tu„ itn:i " here was a time to live, a time to
is%baere n't a tin to die—that they all admitted; but
44 y NI. not
also t time to live for the discharge of
li ad Jugal and
itie,tarit „ Sarental duty. They might talk of
kii4tltioZtjaest.t7ru. etiOlZaication and of the necessity of re-
--t was' all in vain. There was no
ssa'atissl-:!_;eln of education—there was no system of
is_ aipie. W,!katever to s
Zis% itil
to_ Parents were o.
toersede the influence of parental
&tined by Providence to exer-
i4. wu,l_nst unlimited paver over the years of child-
-44 hat
ivnether prince or peasant—all that was best,
sokrted
.1: highest in the csaracter of a man, he had
N. 4104 his mother's knee, or at least of
titte"e'cioag. tAtoman, who, with that tenderness
Isitit % the Peculiar Peculiar to the ssx, acted as the substi-
. di.. Yetk. Mother. Let them search the records of
-.lit they*ttsr,,tuits would find that all the best and most
th,f, eultt‘,'l men, with very few exceptions, owed the
h- t Ilea ati" of their minds, and the discipline of
iif,rieecise sortur.into the affection and ' intelligence of a mother.
ire 'IP, for s of moral and physical mischief must be
%skip fail sake of the health of the females, the
al ON of n+ the control of parents, the duties and
laws usb noise
and ~,, . the dapericies of life, the relationship
~_l4 rote °f G"ort wife; for the moo of society and the
-S, that • Ina never would he believe, till
14e isl:el Goad 11°Ile should have been given that night
h, kils of thevett--that there could be found within
v could jo 11.°u. of Commons one single individual
nbvielltilisly and deliberately impose on