The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-28 00:00:00

S PIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—Are the slop-sellers of the metropolis
I 'like destitute of the feelings of humanity, the sense
• shame, and the consciousness of responsibility ?
'1- he fearftil results of their grinding cupidity have been
oti ten exhibited, and their cruelty denounced. The
• -ess has frequently brought before the public eye the
• d scenes of privation, verging on starvation, caused
b f the miserable wages they pay to their wretched
orkwomen. The lingering death endured by
riuiny of these poor creatures—who, faint, from hunger,
Vtigue, and suffering, ply the needle through the
g; eater part of the night, unable to procure sus-
t nance by unintermitting toil during the day—has
ben represented in the homely phrase of prose, and
,in the more affecting appeals of verse. Hood's
4, Song of the Shirt ' will perpetuate, for it faith-
illy portrays, the sufferings of this wretched class
the most helpless of the sex. Their weakness
• .d woes would appeal to the sympathies of their
• iployers—if they were men. If shame were
eavable of moving them to virtue they would,
'Le this, have convened a public meeting of
I oeir trade, and pledged themselves to each other and
0.) the public, that an advance upon their scandalously
I,w rates of wages for the making-up of the shirts,
t c-users, and other articles of dress, in the sewing to-
s_ :then of which large numbers of females are daily
a,d nightly employed, should take place. And if
la_ inanity and shame had ceased to operate, the de-
taluciations of Heaven against those who " grind.
tne face of the poor, and afflict the soul of the
sieecly," might awake those apprehensions of future
retribution against which the most obdurate
3:"R not altogether proof. But these considera-
tions seem incapable of moving the slop-sellers.
Their poor work women are ground to the dust, and
a i-e even pressed out of life, by the operation of
the system of competition which this class of
traders persist in carrying on against each other.
'll, he profits they acquire are wrung from the vi-
tality of the poor needle-women, who starve, while
tiley " fare sumptuously every day." Another of
these terrible examples is before us. A fine young
woman, industrious and virtuous, unable to sup-
Fart life upon the wages of shirtmaking, and shrink-
ig from the alternative which lures but to inflict
won its victims a deeper depth of misery, has been
impelled to suicide. A double suicide was only pre-
vented by the timely arrival of a labouring man, who,
gm his way to work, was attracted to the spot by a
) ariek, and succeeded in rescuing from death a sister
a the wretched girl. They had agreed to terminate
t heir miserable existence together by drowning. The
vurvivor told the sad tale of their mutual struggles to
aastain life by.their unintermitting toils, and of the
horrid conclusion to which they came to terminate
Ati existence which to them was alike destitute of in-
riucement, in the shape of possession, or of promise, to
prolong it. The Coroner's inquest commenced its
inquiry into the cause of the death of the poor suicide
on Friday, and glosed it yesterday. The name
of the deceased girl was Eliza Kendall—her age
ilineteen—the mode of death was drowning—the place
selected for the act a secluded spot on the Surrey Canal
• jury marked its sense of the cause which led
t,) the catastrophe by the verdict it returned upon the
widence :—" That the deceased committed suicide
/Mist labouring under a fit of insanity ; and the jury
Annot but deprecate the cruel practice of the slop-
7•Alers in London, of employing young females at
.3.,,edlework at so low a rate of wages as to preclude the
fossibility of a subsistence." This was, in fact, a verdict
..f wilful murder against the system by which "the slop-
: tillers in London" manage their business. The manifest
tendency of this system is the destruction of life. To re-
uce the prices of shirt-making to five farthings each, is
• —we will not mince the matter--to consign the poor crea-
tures who are condemned to toil for such a pittance
t./ starvation. The appropriate designation of such
cruelty is murder. Rent—food—clothes—firing—
candles (for toil by night)—and all these out of sew-
fig the materials of shirts together at five farthings
ieh ! Those who think the thing consistent with
t te sustentation of life deserve to be undeceived, by
11~..ing subjected to the experiment. Human legisla-
von cannot prevent the horrible state of things. But
T, iblic opinion can express its sense of the enormity ;
:Ind the public Press can, and will, utter its thunders
4ainst it, and against those who pocket the gains de-
) ved from human misery.
STANDARD.—The last telegraphic dispatch
from Morocco offers a triumphant contradiction to
rumours so industriously circulated by the
3 -ench Opposition Press, that Marshal Bugeaud was
I ing on his oars waiting for reinforcements,
. hich his Government were indisposed to send
1 ; and that in the interim a junction be-
t , een the troops commanded by the son of the
2 nperor of Morocco, and the main body of the
3 'oorish army would be effected, which would
./ table their united forces to overwhelm the
4,,mparatively small army at the disposal of the
liarshal. He appears, however, to have wisely
anticipated this junction, by striking a decisive blow
• once. The affair, judging from the very meagre
•w-count supplied by the telegraph, would seem to
have been every way worthy the military reputation
o the Marshal, and the tried gallantry of the French
troops. If, indeed, it be correct that the Marshal
let 800 of the enemy on the field, and captured
the number of guns and the quantity of munitions
o war and baggage enumerated in his dispatch,
the moral effect of his victory cannot fail of being
'e( nsiderable, both in Algeria and Morocco; and
-8,, far from leading, as a Contemporary suggests,
to a prolongation of the contest, will, we hope and
.b. lieve, bring it to a speedy termination. The Em-
le•ror has, undoubtedly, extensive means at his
•i. )inmand for protracting the struggle, and greatly
e,ihancing the natural difficulties with which
I,:s assailants will have to contend. But cui
lono ? Under any circumstances, he must be
a loser to an extent greater in proportion to his
resources than any sacrifices he may force upon the
Ir -ench. If the professions of the latter, that they
,ve no intention to occupy ultimately any part of
lorocco, be as sincere as we believe them to
. Le, the Emperor is fighting for a shadow, and
,r..,y well afford to accept the conditions offered to
h• n. If we could suppose it otherwise, and believe
:I' it it was the determination of Marshal Bugeaud
conquer and take possession of the country, then
'1 ould there be no other prospect than that of a long,
4, to the invaders, a most harassing and un-
-1 war—and we should consider this prelimi-
,ry success as tending only to enhance their fu-
t re difficulties ; for unless followed by the imme-
i ite submission of the Moors, it will increase
t it. :exasperation to the highest possible pitch,
t. 311 every foot of the soil will be disputed, and
ev •ry means within reach of a barbarous enemy
IN sorted to to drive them from the country;
the heat of the climate, and the impossibility of
.F...ovisioning an army, in many of the districts
th rough which the Marshal will have to pass, offering
01 themselves the most weighty obstacles to the en-
t( It is possible that the conviction that the
E-Prich can proceed but little further during the pre-
pent season, may induce the Emperor to delay his
submission. The great probability, however, is, that
shall hear of his having accepted the proposed
• ms by the next dispatch. The fact that the son of
t: e Emperor had joined the Moorish camp would
o :.(1 us to infer that the troops of which he was said
to be in command had accompanied him, and if so,
Ce Moors will have little prospect of repairing their
di ;aster, and but little temptation (having been beaten
at such tremendous odds) to renew the contest.