The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-04 00:00:00

FROM THE EVENING PAFERS OF YESTERDAY.

STANDARD.—Lord Ashley's Bill for the regulation of
labour in calico printing works was last night read a second
time; after an explanation from the Home Secretary, that it
must be considerably modified. Lord Ashley assented
to the proposal of modification, in order that he
might secure a locus standi in the matter, and
the Noble Lord was right. This is one of the
cases in which it is not only wise but innocent to take instal-
ments, for it is only by showing the safety and utility of
such reforms a 9 the .Noble Lord has so long conducted, upon
a limited scale, that the minds of all can be reconciled
to their principle. Of this Lord Ashley had a
handsome testimony from the millowners fast night,
in Mr. Brotherton's ingenuous acknowledgment, un-
contradicted by any cue, that the Noble Lord's re-
forms hitherto had proved as beneficial to the employers
as to the employed; a fact, indeed, sufficiently attested by
the present prosperity and contentment of the manufac-
turing districts. This and the most interesting letter from
a working mechanic, describing the factory labourers as
elevated to a higher order of beings within twenty
years, read by the Noble Member for Dorsetshire, must
afford him great encouragement in his glorious course,
and present an irresistible argument to the Legislature to
follow a leader at once so zealous and so circumspect. It :is
plain that the great work of social improvement is in irre-
sistible progress--not in this trade or in that—but, as it
was reproachfully thrown up to Lord Ashley, in all pm..
suits (probably the highest compliment ever paid even to
his Lordship); and this has been the work of Michael
Thomas Sadler and of Lord Ashley in less than fifteen
years. There was an objection to the Bill now in
progress offered by the Home Secretary, which has weight,
no doubt, against an abrupt change, but which, in truth,
offers the most powerful argument that can be offered in
favour of the pervading principle of all Lord Ashley's
reforms. We allude to the Right Honourable Secre-
tary's remarks upon the impossibility of reconciling the
regulatioa of the hours of labour with the alternation of
" pushes" and" slacks," which, as it seems, almost regularly
succeed to each other in the calico printing trade. Now, if
the regulation of the hours of labour had no other effect than
to render impossible this alternation of " pushes" and " slacks,"
it would render the greatest possible benefit to all engaged
in the trade : we need net say how much the labourers
"would be benefited by the substitution of steady for de-
sultory 'employment ; how much happier they would be,
and hove much more skilful they would become; this must
be obvious to all. The employer, however, would be, in
the end, even a greater gainer, in being able to adjust
his expenditure to his profits with certainty and precision,
in having more skilful and more attached servants,
in having his works constantly remunerating the capital laid
out on them, above all, in protection from the gambling
competition of pennyless adventurers, working upon credit
for "the push," and underselling the fair trader (with or
without the intervention of the Bankrupt Court) during
"the slack." We have no doubt that much of the
present prosperity of the manufacturing districts, and nearly
all the solidity of that prosperity (which is, we believe,
solid), may be traced to Lord Ashley's former measures
steadying the course of manufactures by limiting the hours
of labour. Indeed, this was almost acknowledged last night.
GLOBE.—The Bill " for regulating the Profession of
Physic and Surgery," now before Parliament, though ren-
dered less offensive to the members of the medical profes-
sion by alterations which Sir James Graham has con-
sented to introduce, is still open to serious objections
on public grounds. In legislating upon such a subject
Goverment is especially reminded of the axiom, Salus
pijul suprema est lex. That the subject of medical
reform cannot, at any time. be brought forward in this coun-
try without exciting more respect for class interests, than for
beneficial results to the mass of the population, must ever be
a source of regret. This will continue to be the case so long
as such varied interests exist in the medical profession, fos-
tered by corporate bodies, possessing peculiar privileges.
A worse mistakc cannot be committed than to suppose
that all existing. interests can be harmonised in the pro-
duction of a reform, unless one or more
of these interests or
the individuals representing them,
and unobjectionable sourcewhnce are regarded as the pure
any
sufficient measure of
reform should be derived. Yet evlegislator who has
undertaken the subject has fallen intoetr every
originated his plan upon information
wis hircrho rh. e hasEy ebneeinf ba
et
the pains of obtaining from impartial sources, he has eventually
abandoned it to the conflicting parties affected b • the measure,
who, in expunging whatever interfered with )
their ~
Pod it originall3recsotedn-
rights," destroyed whatever of
tamed. Sir James Graham's present scheme of
ed
'reform had 'is congenial taint, and was furthmerical
cor-
rupted by co.,cNisions. Sir Benjamin Brodie very
plainly
says
This is what we, the Colleges, intend to reserve
to
'
ourselves ; we sac.'fice none of our sins ; but, if you object,
we will compromise, by sparing more, or, less, of those faults
from which we intend to purify you." And in this
manner opponents may, or may not, be bought
over, until it is discovered that the plan, ex-
ceedingly faulty at first, is no longer worth defending or
opposing. Conflicting medical gradations we do not under-
take to reconcile. Amid their disputes for rank and privi-
lege, the principle of reform is crushed ; and the security
essential to preserve the public health from being neglected,
or tampered with by uneducated quacks, is sacrificed.
The first principle of medical reform should be that
none but duly educated persons should be permitted to
practise medicine. The medical authorities, however__
concerning themselves only about gradations of rank, and
the construction of fortifications against privileged com-
petitors—very coolly suppress the note of war against the
class presumed to be most prejudicial and dangerous to the
public health—namely, the uneducated and unqualified prac-
titioners of medicine. If these are to be tolerated, it is quite
evident that any measure of pretended reform, however ad-
vantageous it may prove to a class, can be of but little ad-
vantage to the community.

CAUTION TO PUBLICANS.—A fellow dressed in a
large blue great coat, having engaged a bed at the
William the Fourth, Ship-yard, Temple-bar, managed
to leave the house early in the morning, taking with
him a new counterpane and a great coat, from a sitting
room belonging to the landlord. The person is in height
about five feet eight inches, dark complexion, having the
•ppearance of a respectable drover.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS, April 3.
Their Lordships met to-day, for the first time after
the Easter recess.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on t' c Wool-
sack at live o'clock.
The Bishop of WORCESTER presented numerous
-etitions from places in various parts of England and
Vales against the sale of intoxicating liquors on the
3rd's day.
ARISH SCHOOLMASTERS.—SCOTCH BANKS,
The Duke of RICHMOND presented petitions from
ereral presbyteries in Scotland, praying for an aug-
mentation of the salaries of parish schoolmasters.
in that country. The Noble Duke also presented a
petition from the merchants and bankers of Banff against
any interference in the present system of banking in
Scotland.