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

titg
,) AM.

LONDON
FIUDAY 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 net 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-
peared 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—w e
esteem ourselves unfortunate in differing from most cf
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
no 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 dire ct
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 term.
It 3£OlllS 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
t 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, %%WI population, that he will inflict on the whole a
serious injure. The assumption of regulating any one
part, constitutes the legislator the judge of what employ-
men's are proper and what jtnproper, and how much or
h:.w little time ;nNividoitls should lie cligagvtl in them
It' then. he ,et needless am! unwholesome oecettpation
thst prile•iple the I,:gislat9r is to blame.
lime eat) tie tolerate the witste and of happi-

pl: firno.l7.-A apprentices?
Is it not a layt., that on qyccial occajenL, tar less; -
cusablf. thah supplying tie public with fuel—such a 3
any great Court festivity, a mock celebration of the
chivalric ages, ur a Court mourning fn. some worthless
scion of royalty—these young creatures are kept up
night after night at their work, and are plyed with
stimalaws to complete their task, that some Beauty may
app, ar gaudy as a peacock ? Is it not a fact that, on
sue'l 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
occupation of the colliery ? " We could make
healthy
out," says so advocate of this interference, " a strong case
for the little tnaid-uf-all-work, let out by her parents
at seven 3 ears of age, for supenco or a shilling a-week,
V! do the work of s 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 he can well lift an oar, and
exposed to all the severities of winter at night in what is
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 Shef-
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 legisla-
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 or

remorse.

The assumption that the Legislature is to judge of
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 after
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 (says 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 pr. mote 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.

DEATH of the DUKE of ORLEANS.

By an extraordinary express from Paris, dated Six
o'Clock on Wednesday, we have received the afflict-
ing intelligence of the death of his Royal Highness the
Duke of ORLEANS, eldest son of his Majesty the KING
of the FRENCH. The Paris Correspondent of the
Chronicle, writing yesterday afternoon, says :—" A
serious accident happened to the Duke of ORLEANS this
morning on his way to Neuilly. The horses in his car-
riage took fright, and proceeded at such a fearful rate
that the Duke, becoming alarmed, threw himself out,
and MI on his head. He was immediately conveyed to
a neighbouring wine shop, where he was bled, and his
medical attendants have reported favourably. It is said
the aecident to the Duke of ORLEANS is more serious than
at first supposed." The Times Correspondent, writing two
hours later, thus announces a catastrophe which plunges
the Royal family of France iu the deepest affliction :
" Ills Royal Highness the Duke of ORLEANS was thrown
from his cabriolet in the Bois de Boulogne, about twelve
o'clock, and although no danger was apprehended from
the accident at first, alarming symptoms appeared after-
wards, and the Duke breathed his last about half-past
four o'clock." This sad intelligence has sincerely and
deeply affected us, and will be heard with profound
sorrow throughout these realms. Towards the individual
members of the Royal family of France the people of
England entertain strong feelings of respect and affection.
To them the Duke of ORLEANS was known as a high-
minded, chivalrous, 'nave, and accomplished Prince,
who had distinguished himself in Africa, and gave early
promise as u husband and a father to set an example of
domestic virtue to Prance worthy of the son of King
Louis PIIILIPPE. Without his father's talents for Go

vernment, it was hoped that, under his less
coercive sway, France would recover those liberties which
Louis PHILIPPE withholds from her, and without which
a Government cannot truly be called the emanation of

the representative system. Such was the impression of
the Duke of ORLEANS' character entertained in Eng-
land, and such a character could inspire no other septi-
ments towards so exalted a person than those of esteem
and affection.

We dare not trust ouselves to speak of the deep and
abiding grief in which this dreadful accident will

throw the elder members of the French Reysi
Family. The QUEEN of the FRENCH is deep y
to be pitied. Her genuine and unaffected piety
can alone sustain her under so many sad and severe
trials. The terrible attempts upon the life of her hus-
band, to whom she is so devoted ; the loss of her ac-
complished daughter, the Princess MARIA, Duchess of
Wurteuiberg, and the shocking death of her eldest and

favourite son, are severe trials of the Christian forti-
tude of the wife of one sovereign, and the mother of

another.

Plot it is as regards the future relations of France and
Europe that this lamentable event assumes a peculiarly
grave importance. The Duke has left an infant heir to
the throne of France, and as in the natural order of
human life, Louis PHILIPPE cannot live many years,
there is the sad prospect of the dangers which threaten
the probability of a long minority in France. In
i,he all-seeing and all-wise dispensations of Heaven
how often are those things which purblind man
regards as the greatest and most sovereign good,
only the earnest of future evils ! All France
rejoiced when the Count de PARIS was born ;
yet, had the Duke of ORLEANS died childless, the Duke
Of NEmouas, his brother, would have succeeded him as
heir-presumptive to the Throne, and thus the alarm-
ingpreepect of a Regency in a kingdom so unsettled as
France, could nol now stare every European statesman
in the face. We are unwilling, at sash a moment as
this, to mix up politics with the relation of so distressing
a catastrophe, trut not to regard it in a po'itioal as well
as in a private point of view, is to overlook its import-
ance to England as a nation. Nothing can be
more momentous than the time when this calamity
has befallen France. Happening at the close of an elec-
tion in which the capital has declared itself hostile
to a Cabinet anxious only to maintain the

peace of Europe., without detriment to the honour
And interest of France, it cannot but give an im

petus to the spirtt of disaffection, and rekindle the hopes

of those who have been labouring for years to overthrow
thr OB.LEARS dyaasty. For ten years have they been
pr.clictiug that the Monarchy of July would descend
to the grave with its Royal founder. Louis PHI-
LIPPE, and this sad accident will appear a partial
realization of such predictions, which cannot but work
dangerously upon the imaginations of the more ignorant
and more sanguine Revolutionists. In whatever light
we view the death of this young, amiable, and accom-
plished Prince, we see in it the cause of much appre-
hension—of much sorrow to Europe.

THE LATE DUKE OF ORLEANS.
We are indebted to the very excellent work, entitled
" The Life and Time 3 of Louis Philippe, King of the
French," published by Messes. FISHER, of Newgate-
street, ikm the subjoined account of the lamented Prince
whose death we announce above, and from which source
we have drawn together the following facts :
The Duke of ORLEANS was born at Palermo, on the
2d of September, 1810, showing him to have just
reached the ago of 32 at his death. His mother,
MmtiE Amami:, the present Queen of the French, is
laughter of FERDINAND, King of the Two Sicilies, and
dinm Louis PHILIPPE espoused at the time that he
wte3 wandering abroad a.splain Duke D'ORLEAris.

The departed Duke was one of a family of seven chil-
dren, to whom MARIE AMELIE has been ever warmly
attached. The Duke de NEmoirns, LOUIS PHILIPPE'S
second son, was born at Paris on the 25th of Oct., 1814.
The early life of the Duke of ORLEANS appears to have
afforded him, as his father desired, a free and unre-
stricted intercourse with the world, for it was a maxim
with LOUIS PHILIPPE that the wisest method was to allow
his sons every opportunity of studying mankind, which
circumstances should afford. Education at the public
schools of the country seemed to him the best method
aeoomplishing this object, and without hesitation,
instead of keeping them hampered by the walls
and masters of a palace, he sent them to the
,
Fatima' Lyceums. This,—'ot czairsP, the Court

THE SUN, LONDO

disliked, but there, undistinguished from the chil-
dren of other citizens', the young Duke, with his
brothers, felt, like his associate schoolfellows, a desire
of participating in the public rewards of ambition, and
to obtain those prizes found it was necessary even for
Princes to deserve them. Princes had hitherto not been
seen in public colleges. They had never joined an aca-
demic class. They had never had companions and
sehoolfellows.

Such were the circumstances attendant upon the col-
legiate life of the Duke of CHARTRES. He was treated
without distinction or difference ; he contended with the
sons of lawyers, merchants, bankers, and others, not in
superiority of accidental rank, but in legitimate objects
of youthful ambition by mastery of mind.
While revolution reigned in Paris, and King CHARLES
was tottering to his fall, Louis PHILIPPE remained at
Neuilly, his favourite residence. The Duke of CHARTRES,
iowever, was at this period apart from his family, being in
company with his regiment at Joigny. The state of his
family at this period may be conjectured. As his ami-
able family sat around a rustic table, in the pleasure-
grounds that slope from the front of the chateau to the
Seine, they heard the thunder in the distance rolling
along, threatening every moment to announce the
destruction of the cause of liberty. His family and
friends endeavoured to tranquillise him, but he turned
from them, exclaiming, " No, no ! I have tears and blood
in my heart. Poor Paris ! Poor France !"
Soon after the young Duke had received the glorious
news, however, of the revolution, he determined to leave
Joigny, and made an endeavour to reach his father at
Neuilly, but he was detained by the Mayor of Mont-
rouge. Released from confinement by a letter from Ge-
neral LAFAYETTE, he conceived it was his first duty to
rejoin his regiment, and accordingly set out upon his
journey to Joigny. Upon the heights of Melun his car-
riage
was crowed by that of the Duchess D'ANGoULEsIE,
on her route from Dijon to Paris. Her Royal Highness
recognized tbe young soldier, and, stopping her equipage,
inquired anxiously whether he had come from Paris ?
—what was going on there ? and where was the
KING ? " Madame," replied the Duke, " I believe the
KING is at St. Cloud. As for myself, I could not enter
Paris; I saw from a distance the tri-coloured flag floating
above all the public buildings."—" Where, then, are you
going?" said the Duchess.—" To the head-quarters of
my regiment at Joigny."—" I trust, Sir, you will keep
faithful to us."—" As for that, Madame, you may rest
assured that I shall perform my duty without any appre-
hension of the consequences."

The crowning of Louis PHILIPPE, as King of the
French, took place on the following third of August.
On this occasion the two tabourets, or stools of privilege
were provided for the young Duke, and his brother,
NEMOURS.

Speaking of the conspicuous part which these two
young Dukes took in the military affairs connected
with the Belgian outbreak, LOUIS PHILIPPE expressed
himself thus on the opening of the Chambers:—" The
sentiments of the King of ENGLAND coincided with mine
our flags were seen to wave together at the mouth of
the Scheldt. Our army, whose discipline and forbear-
ance are only equalled by their valour, appeared before
the walls of Antwerp ; my two eldest sons shared in
their labours and their glory."

In the attempt to assassinate the KING on the 28th of
July, 1835, the Dukes of ORLEANS, NEMOURS, and the
Prince DE JOINS ILLS rode together ; the young Duke,
however, escaped ; Ns nouns' horse, and that of the
PRINCE, were both wounded, but not severely.
The Duke married on 30th January, 1837, a Princess
of the house of Mecklenburg Schwerin. The marriage

was celebrated at the Palace of Fontainbleau, and in the
splendid gallery of HENRY the SECOND. By this lady
his Royal Highness has left two sons, the Count of
PARIS, born August 24, 1838, and the Duke of CHAR-
TRES, born November 9, 1840.