The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-15 00:00:00

'Ott ;Snit.

LONDON:
FRIDAY MORNING, JULY 15, 1842.

The House of Lords read the Collieries Bill a second
time last night without any serious opposition, in con-
sequence of a compromise between the parties who pro
mote and oppose the Bill, neither of them, however,
being the colliers, male or female, but persons claiming
to act for them, and to dispose of them as if they
formed a part of their own estates. Mr. BUDDLE and
the colliery owners were on the one side, and Lord
ASHLEY and the promoters of humanity on the other.
The women and the boys seem to have had no voice ;
they were esteemed by both parties as infants, and ap-
warmi by those who assumed to speak for them.
On this great question—and we think, from the prin-
ciples involved, it is a very important question—we
esteem ourselves unfortunate in differing from most of
our Contemporaries. The Journals which, in politics,
are the most liberal, such as the Morning Chronicle and
the Scotsman, are the most zealous in favour of this Bill;
and The Sun, singular enough, finds itself siding with
coal monopolists, headed by the Marquis of LONDON-
DERRY. But our opposition is based on principles, and
were we to give them up, we should drift without com-
pass or chart on the shoreless ocean of politics. If, by
adhering to principles, we sometimes coincide with the
Marquis of LONDONDERRY, or a worse man, it is an evi-
dence, not of error, but of our having some principles in
common.

In the course of a pretty long experience we have seen
so many laws, passed from the most benevolent motives
turn out complete failures, that we are no longer sus-
ceptible of being seduced by temporary expediency to
forsake general principles. It has been established for
example, by a wide induction, since writers began to ob-
serve and classify political facts, that the interference by
law with the application of individual industry is inva-
riably mischievous. That principle is agreeable to the
theory of Government, which is constituted not to direr
the labour of any part of the community, except that
which is employed in the public service, but to protect
the rights of individuals. Add to these general facts the
particular fact that our Legislature is almost exclusively
composed of opulent and leisure classes ; that no mere
manual labourer has any share in it ; that a very small
proportion indeed of the manual labourers even concur
in electing the.law-makers ; and there is a strong case
established against the interference by such a Legisla-
ture with the industry of the people, in any shape or form.
It seems to us also a necessary consequence of the Legis-
lature undertaking to regulate any one particular class
of labourers, that it becomes bound to regulate the whole.
Our system of production, by which society is sus-
tained, is one of great combination or division of
labour, the weaver depending on the spinner, the spinner
on the steam-engine, and the steam-engine on the coal-
hewer ; and the legislator who undertakes to .regulate
a part must, if he can, regulate the whole. The chances
are, as he really knows nothing, and can know nothing,
of a system which is obviously in progress of develop-
ment, with population, that he will inflict on the whole a
serious injury. The assumption of regulating any one
part, constitutes the legislator the judge of what employ-
ments are proper and what improper, and how much or
how little time individuals should be engaged in them
If there be one needless and unwholesome occcupation
in society, on that principle the legislator is to blame.
how can ho tolerate the waste of life and of happi-
ness, which takes place amongst milliners' apprentices ?
Is it not a fact, that on special occasions, far less ex-
cusable than supplying the public with fuel—such as
any great Court festivity, a mock celebration of the
chivalric ages, or a Court mourning for some worthless
scion of royalty—these young creatures are kept up
night after night at their work, and are plyed with
stimulants to complete their task, that some Beauty may
appear gaudy as a peacock ? Is it not a fact that, on
such occasions, they sometimes work till they fall from
their stools ? And why should not their toils be re-
strained and regulated as well as those of the more
healthy occupation of the colliery ? " We could make
out," says an advocate of this interference, " a strong case
for the little maid-of-all-work, let out by her parents
at seven years of age, for sixpence or a shilling a-week,
to do the work of a strong woman ; and of this class
there are some thousands in the poorer districts of Lon-
don." Could not a case, too, be made out for the fisher-
boy bound apprentice before lie can well lift an oar, and i
exposed to all the severities of winter at night in what s
little better than an open boat ? Is not the legislator,
on the principle adopted by the Chronicle and the Scots-
man, bound to prevent people becoming grinders at Shel-
field, and shortening their lives far more than those of the
colliers? Persons who have much to do with white lead are
the prey of a horrible disease, which both shortens life and
renders it painful while it lasts ; shall the Legislature
then, not prohibit the trade of the painter and the ma-

nufacturer of white lead ? We look with some bitter-
ness at this assumed care for human life in the legis?a-
tor, who, when it suits his purpose, sacrifices hundreds
and thousands in useless war, and starves, by an unjust
law, even a still greater number, without repugnance ( r
remorse.

_
The assumption that the Legislature is to judge ( f
the propriety of the employments of the people, consti-
tutes it not the protector, but the absolute master of all,
to whom every man must account for the due and proper
employment of his time. We do not want a despot even
in a benevolent House of Commons. It is bound not only
to see that no employments are noxious, but that the
whole industry of the community is applied in the
most beneficial manner, and that none are idle
or unemployed. Lounging at the Clubs, for example,
spending day after day at horse races, and night alter
night at the theatres, or in frivolous amusements, deep
drinking, and passionate gambling, engaging in mischief
for want of something to do, " the waste of feelings un-
employed" which distinguishes the upper classes, and
too often makes the " heart eat up itself," shorten the
days of man, aye, and of woman too, and make them
nervous, distempered, and miserable, in as great a degree,
perhaps, as the labours of the colliery or the mine. If
the Legislature is to put an end to one species of labour
because it is unhealthy and injurious, it is equally
bound to set the idle to some useful occupation, and
to prevent the opulent from destroying themselves by
debauchery and vicious amusement.
But then, it is said by the Scotsman and others, that
every moment the "practices exposed continue to exist,
the Legislature countenances a great national crime.'
Such an opinion makes the Legislature responsible for
all the evils which exist in society. It supposes, too,
that the Legislature can correct every evil, and, of
course, it demands that perpetual meddling which meets
us at every turn, and is a far sorer evil than all the
plagues together it has assumed to remove. Even its
advocates bear testimony against it.
The Factory Regulation Bill ksays a writer in the Westminster
Review) caused more children to be immured in mines than
were employed there before. The exclusion of children from
cotton mills depreciated the labour of children employed in
silk mills, and sent swarms of children, not to school, but to
close confinement at other occupations, equally and perhaps
more unfavourable to the development of the moral and phy-
sical faculties.

So it will be found throughout that the interference
of the law-maker with employments, which it is
to us sickening to see the Liberal journals—for
what purpose we cannot fathom—zealously ad-
vocate, only degrades the labourer, till at length it
reduces him to be a slave and a pauper. That is what
the aristocracy seek. Why should the friends of the
people promote such an improper object ? We shall
conclude by saying, that if we side with the Marquis of
LONDONDERRY, it is our happiness to agree with that
stanch friend to the people, the Earl of RADNOR.

The fine property of Mr. Kenrick, called the
Nantehvyd Estate, in Denbighshire, and including a
domain of near two thousand acres of land, with an
ancient house upon it (somewhat dilapidated, it was
said in the Auction-room), was yesterday sold by
Mr. George Robins, at the Auction Mart, to Mr.
Leyland, the opulent banker of Liverpool, for fifty-
seven thousand pounds.

MESSRS. RUIN D ELL, BRID GE, AND 1
CO.'S SALE.—(SECOND DAY.)
Yesterday the sale commenced with
TRINKETS.
There was a great number sold, the following are well
worthy of notice, not only for their beauty, but for their
exquisite workmanship. With a lively competition
amongst the trade they brought the following pnces :
A pair of ear-rings and a brooch, in the form of
fuschias, with pearls and small brilliants-10 guineas.
A: pair of ear-rings, of two sapphires and two bril-
liants each---151.
A necklace and brooch, cameo, with classical subjects
—l6 guineas.
Head of the Queen, cameo, onyx, in rich enamel
setting, with small brilliants and lozenge of brilliants
suspended-19 guineas.
After which followed the
ENAMELS.
The following are selected as worthy of notice, though
we regret that the prices were not such as they merited :
Commodore Anson £5 0
The Regent of Orleans 4 0
A Portrait of a Gentleman and'Lady 6 12
Mary Queen of Scots 4 4
Anna Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth
Louis the Fifteenth 9 5
William the Fourth 4 17
The three heads of Charles, after Vandyk 7 15
Prince Albert, by Bone 2 10
Queen Adelaide 2 2
JEWELS.
This sale exhibited the most beautiful specimens that
the eye was ever dazzled with, and it is only to be
lamented that those to whom they were sold estimated
them but for one object—and that was re-sale. The fol-
lowing are well worthy of notice :
A gold mural neck-chain, with gold locket, set with
brilliants and small rubies suspended, most beautiful—
.ls guineas.
A small bracelet of-gold knots, with a fine emerald
and two brilliants in the head, magnificent-43 guineas.
A gold brooch set with rubies and brilliants-18 gas.
A very handsome gold bracelet of trellis pattern, with
a superb onyx of great beauty and thickness, surrounded
by four brilliants and four rubies. This is mcst superb,
it was first put up at 50L, and, amidst great competition,
knocked down at 116/. Some foreign gentleman is the
purchaser.
A beautiful small bracelet, with three fine emeralds
and four buttinets and clasp-371.
Three others of a similar description brought-701.
A very handsome gold bracelet, with a beautiful me-
dalion of the Queen-11 guineas.
A library seal, the stem of a eery fine block of jad,
inlaid with diamonds and rubies, the seal with the head
of George the Fourth, on cornelian, and the Royal Arms
on the other end, in chased gold setting, and which came
from his Majesty's (George the Fourth's) collection-15
guineas.