The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-08 00:00:00

tam _suit

LONDON :
WEDNESDAY MORNING, JUNE 8, 1842.

Lord ASHLEY last night obtained leave, with the
unanimous concurrence of the House of Commons, to
introduce a Bill to make regulations respecting the age
and sex of perSoni admitted to work in mines and col-
lieries. The Noble Lord took a succinct and rapid view
of most of the evils of the present system, and stated
that the principal objects he should aim at by
his NIL would be the total exclusion of all
females and ehildeei from the mines and collierie.s
o: the k ingdom, and the putting a stop to the practice
of binding out parish children apprentices to colliery.
The Noble Lord will even cancel the indentures of those
who have already •been beend out. Sir JAMES
HAM; COI • behalf of the Government, gave his cordial
support to the Noble Lord's principles, though he made
some reservations as to details. It can be no party
measure, and we believe both sides of the House will
zealously concur with the Noble Lord in carrying his
Bill as speedily as possible through Parliament.
While wehave net the smallest doubt of Lord ASHLEY'S
humanity, we haveaOt the same confidence in his wisdom.,
It is one thing to see an evil, but it is another and a`
very different thing to remedy it by legislation. Al-
though we do not accuse the Noble Lord of exaggera-
tion, wee believe that tite.re is exaggeration in the Report
of the 'Commissioners, nid 'the Noble Lord has. placed
before the public and Ac House only a portion of the
whole subject. It is not all black and dismal; On the
contrary,- there arein it t)tiehes of nature and of .truth
which mm elte kifiaieiy6f 1141111. We regret, too, that Lord
ASHLEY, with a tinge of Poritanism, should have made it
a reproach to the hard-worlenii colliers that they do not
work hard enough, and shkuld have coloured his hu-
manity to their wives and children with the hue of
punishment to them.
Lord Asviez -•- The system which Y and the Commis.
sionors have suddenly found to be SO truly horrible
has been, let us remark, for many years in existence,
and was as great a reproach to the Parliament thirty
years ago as now.. :Even now, those who are its victims
rarely complain of No petition for colliers, whether
lade or lasses, have been presented, asking for redress.
Lord ASHLEY quotes one ease—the only one, w e believe
in the Report—of an old Scotchwoman who did not like
4• horse work," and who said Queen VICTORIA would
have the blessing of the carmen if she would keep them
,net of the pit, and send them to other work. There
is in the Report another 'ease of a woman who
wished the first woma'i who entered a coal-pit lad
broken her back, end then women would always
have been exehale..l. • But there ..are many instances of
-the women not complaining of Ote work. They have
scan long been used to it, and mig ht find other employ-
ment irksome. On these Lord A5111.4.:Y, from well meant
kindness, may inflict serious diseotm 'ere for many years,
if not for the remainder of their
If we are correct in undentandiu g the Noble Lord's
intention to be at once totally to p rohibit the employe
e went of women in all the naine:ewe ho' se he will at the same
dine find them some amusement ar►'id occupation ; that
tee will not allow them to go to the et:orkhouse, for they
row eat the honest bread of indep endenee and will
, eenet.tre their pensions equal at least tc two-thirds of their
eeeratiqr earnings. A prospective proi Aitken of the ern-
toymit et el.feeaales. would probably 'be more suitable to
gith ,e case that! an immediate prohibition. •
As to Children, also, iet many of the warm, well-
Ve; itilated mines,, we really see ate more objection
to allowing young boys of eight • years ee. age
to perform the duties of trappers than to em-
plo iing them to gather stones - from a field, or
•

to watch a herd of cows or a flock of sheep. What is
required as to them, if the House of Commons must
legislate on the subject, and not leave the correction of
the evil to the good sense of the mine. owners and mine-
workers, now that it is publicly branded, is to em-
ploy them only, as sailors are employed, watch and
watch, and so never allow them to be underground mopT
than six hours at a time.

The Noble Lurd has been conz]piettous for his exeiliou,
in behalf of the factory children ; and if he did not
draw up the provisions of the Factories Act, his spirit
dictated them. Amongst the punishments inflicted under
that Act, and amongst the crimes created by it, we rind,
from a return laid on the table of the House of Commons,
on February 21st, that there are several cases of punish-
ment, for " employing children on Good Friday," "for nut
giving the holidays prescribed by law." In the most
Christian and most moral part of the empire, Good Fri-
day is not observed as a holiday. In Scotland there are
no holidays. Our Puseyites are very anxious to bring back
into England the holidays, which are considered in Italy
the source of beggary and idleness. With a kind of
Puseyite spirit, however, the Factories Act established
holidays, ant punishes those who employ children on
them. If the Act be operative in Scotland, it must be
an insult to the people. Although we earnestly wish to
see the labouring classes relieved from toil, it is not by
a return to the festivals of the Romish Church, in which
joy is made to open the portals to superstition and priest-
craft, that such relief can best be obtained.

Amongst the punishments only inflicted under the
Factories Act, there are some also for "not whitewas:h- •
ing the mill," as prescribed by law, for "not keepik;
registers and notices, as prescribed by law," for "miner
offences ;" of a parent " for allowing his child to be em-
ployed without a school voucher," or to be employed
longer than nine hours—or " not schooling his child ;"
and .a vast number of matters which must require the '
vigilance of a ship captain, and the minute discipline of
a man-of-war. We cannot for one moment believe that
such multifarious, minute, and vexatious regu-
lations, depriving the individuals of all frer-
will, can be of public advantage ; and if . the
Act to regulate labour in mines be filled with similar
minute provisions, it will be more an annoyance, on the
whole, than a blessing. In fact, to touch the system of
combined labour in Britain requires a master hand ; and,
though we are as sensible as any of our Contemporaries
of the enormous evils to which our working classes are
exposed, we anticipate more evil than good from hasty
legislation on their pursuits and employments.

Sir ROBERT PEEL is at present a very successful man.
He sways the House of Commons by a word, and through
the House of Commons he rules the empire. He says
n )thing beyond the merest common-place which is not
roceiyed by assenting cheers from one side or the other.
He is surrounded by flattery, in action, and must believe
that the measures which are applauded by the House
will be beneficial to the public. But time will put them
to a rougher test than the opinion of the House of
Commons, and in their effects, by which we must try
his policy, there will be no cheers and no flattery.
lie has undertaken the Government expressly to remedy
our financial, commercial, and moral disorders ; his In-
come-tax, the Tariff; and his zealous support of the
Church, are his means of cure. Will they effect the object?
In endeavouring to form an opinion o❑ this subject, it
is of consequence to notice that his first anticipations
have been disappointed. He expected a revival in spring;
summer is come, and the distress has continually aug-
mented. The failure of his first augury diminishes .our
confidence in his judgment. His medicines hare rath€ r
aggravated than alleviated the disorder, and now to ex-
pect as much from him as last year is to hope against
experience. _

In the course of nature, an abundant harvest, follows
a few years of short crops, and restores comparative
prosperity to a half-starved people. So it was in 1822,
so it was in 1834, and so it may be in 1542. For such
a return of prosperity, should it come, he may thank
his stars ; his measures will contribute very little to
bring it about.
A fact peculiar to those prosperous periods, was an
antecedent reduction of taxation. In the former period
such a reduction had followed the close of the war ; in
the latter, we all remember that a reduction was carried
into execution by the Whigs. Sir ROBERT PEEL, in
adding to taxation, takes the best possible course to
prevent that return of prosperity which would come in
the nature of things. If distress continue, nay, if there
be not a great flush of prosperity, his measures will be
to blame.

He promises us, for example, immense advantages
from his remission of 600,000 L on the timber duties ; but
it does not seem probable, till population has again made
v, rapid start, that for building houses, ships, or factories,
the chief use of timber, any great additional quantity
will be required. At the same time, as was stated on
Monday evening by Mr. GLADSTONE, the selling
price of timber has already fallen below its cost to the
importing merchants. The imports last year were more
than were required, and the single effect, we are afraid,
therefore, of Sir IL PEEL'S alteration in the timber
duties will be to reduce the value of the commodity still
lower, without much augmenting the demand for it.
That will make the North American provinces share the
distress which afflicts the mother country. Such a result
will be nothing to boast of.
Examples of his inconsistency are so numerous, that
no person can tell what are his principles, or what he ex-
pects from his policy. He tells us by his Tariff to look
for a return of prosperity from a reduction of taxation,
and by his Income-tax he adds to our burdens. He re-
fuses to lower the duties on butter, cheese, and sugar,
and he exempts the bulk of the working classes from the
Income4ax. On the one hand he declares that the pooret;t
of the poor must contribute to swell the income of the
landlord and the sugar planter ; on the other, he
.exempts all persons with a less income than 150/. a
year from contributing to the wants of the State. Com-
bined with his employing the public money to relieve
distress, and with the motion of his follower, Mr. FER- ,
RAND, to give a million to the distressed people, his
conduct goes to establish for a large portion of the com-
munity a perpetual exemption from the payment of
taxes to the State. It makes taxation even fall short of
representation, narrow as that is, and breaks up the
nation into an oligarchy, having the whole power of
Government in its hands, and a people who have no
longer an interest in the State. On the one hand he
calls for patriotism, and on the other he takes measures
to deprive the bulk of the people of all motives for its
existence. In finance, in commerce, and in miirals, he
is equally inconsistent. From such a contradictory
policy we anticipate no good; and if the results of his
measure shall be in accordance with the opinions of his
cheerers in the House of Commons, we shall rejoice for
the community, however much we may be ashamed of
our imperfect intelligence and our defective judgment.

The charge of the Bishop of OXFORD to the clergy of
his diocese, delivered last month, contains some sus-
picious •and many ambiguous remarks respecting the
doctrines of the Puseyites. From the manner in which
he interfered lately with the authors of the " Tracts for

the Times," and his urgent request to close the publica-
tion of these writings, the public very generally believed
that Dr. B.LGdT was entirely opposed to the nell doctrines

His
.charge, however, will undeceive all those who had
formed such an opinion, for. without .exception it is the
most ample and most sincere apology for Puseyisni
that has yet come under our notice. The attacks of the
Right Reverend Father are directed not against what
many good Protestants considered Popish doctrines, but
against all those who have condemned these encroach-
ments of the Church of Borne, against the Puritans and
Calvinists, against writers in newspapers, against yOung
men the disciples of PUsEY and NEWMAN, who have al-
lowed their zeal to outrun their discretion, and in fact
against almost every party except those who are the real
authors of the schism ; nay, what is more, these inno-

vators are extolled to the skies as the best reformers of
the Protestant Church. After alluding, in the most
gentle manner, to the faults of the " Tracts," the Bishop
thus proceeds :—" Within the Church it is impossible to
mark the revival of Church principles, the increasing
desire for unity, the increasing sense of the guilt and
evils of schism, the yearning after that discipline which
we have so much lost, the more willing and ready
obedience to ecclesiastical authority, the greater desire
ttf live by the Prayer-book, the better observation
of fasts and festivals of the Church, the more decent
ministration of and deeper reverence for her sacraments,
growing habits of devotion and of self-sacrifice ; it is
impossible, I say, to see these things and their growth
within the last ten years,'and not acknowledge that under
GOD the authors of the Tracts have been the humble in-
struments of at least bringing them before men's minds
and of exhibiting in their own lives their practical fruits."
This certainly is very high praise, and it is therefore
most cruel conduct on the part -of the Bishop
to check these godly men in a career which has hitherto
been fraught with such blessings. We infer, from the
whole tenor of the charge, that many, and possibly ail
the new doctrines find favour in the eyes of the Bishop,
and that the great fault consists in imbuing young ardent
spirits with these tenets, and "in hurrying on a crisis,
from the acceleration of which nothing is to be hoped
and every thing to be feared." There would be no
harm in the Puseyite scheme, were it only carried into
effect quietly and gradually, so as not to awaken the sus-
picions and fears of real Protestants. In that case,
" the observances of the festivals of Lent and Passion
Week, and as opportunity may offer, of the Ember and
Rogation Days, may in due time bring us back to the

restoration of the Daily Service." And why 'not bring

us back also to the observance of Saints' days, to auri-
cular confession, absolution, and the great sacrifice of
the mass ? It is not the practice of religionists, and
least of all young ardent spirits, to halt half-way ;
and we are much mistaken, notwithstanding the
fling of the Bishop at the " schismatical and
Anti-Christian Church of flume," if be has
not by this address done more to encourilge them in
their dangerous course than all the writings and preach-
ings of the Puseyites together. From the marked
silence, so long preserved by the Heads of the Church,
even when remonstrances against these Popish doctrines
were made again and, again, only one inference could be
drawn, namely, that they were favourable to the change;
and this charge of Dr. BACOT, delivered after mature
deliberation, has, in °Lr opinien, reduced this inference
to a firm conviction.

Low indeed must be the moral feeling in an assembly
which could listen unmoved to the petition read by Mr.
O'ColxxF.l.l, in the House of Commons on Monday night,
praying for a suspension of the writ of election for the
borough of Pelfast till an inquiry shall take place into
the corrupt practices of the Tory candidates, Mr. JAMES
EMERSON TENNENT and Mr. W. G. .IOHNSON, at the
last election for that borough. Were the offence less
heinous and revolting, the briber, Mr. J. E. TENNE?iT,
and the bribed, PETER STEPHEN CROPPER, innkeeper
of Belfast, would make two of as capital characters for a
novel from the pen of Mrs. TROLLOPE, as any Vicars of
Wrexhill or Widows BARNABY that ever had an exist-
ence in her not over-fastidious fancy. Mr. CROPPER'S
account of himself, ,and his personal intercourse with
Mr. TENNENT, form a more curious narrative than the
latter gentleman's Tour in Belgium,: or any other Tour
ever written by bins; Mr. CROPPER, for twelve years of
his life, had been a hatter in Carnarvou, but getting into
difficulties in 1838, the year following he went to
Belfast, opened an inn, and became an elector of
the borough. lie hid always been a Liberal, always
voted for Liberal candidates, and was generally known
among his neighbours as a man of decided Liberal
opinions. But the progress of teetotalism ruined his
projects of public-house prosperity ; he again got into
debt ; and to make the matter worse, on the eve of the
last election he found himself hard pressed for payment
of a trifling debt by an obdurate Tory creditor. What
immediately followed is so graphically given in Cnor-
PER'S petition, that we quote his own words :
" That your petitioner was canvassed by partisans of both
sides, and personally by Mr. Tennent and Mr. Johnson.
" That some days before the first day of poll the wife of your
petitioner informed him that offers of money had been made to
her by the Tory party in Belfast,io induce your petitioner to
vote for the said. James Emerson Tennent and William Gillilan
Johnson ; and that your petitioner well knew that large money
bribes were being extensively offered to electors of the borough.
That your petitioner's wife pressed your petitioner, on account
of his embarrassment, and because of the threats of Tory
creditors, to sacrifice principle to want,' and to take money for
his vote from the Conservative party. That your petitioner
was most reluctant to sell his vote, and because he had attended
the meetings of the Liberals, and had made public his intention
of voting for Lord Belfast and Mr. Ross.
" That two active Members of the Committee of Mr. Ten-
nent and Mr. Johnson repeatedly called on your petitioner
and paid for liquors' and paid small sums for treating at his
house, and several times pressed your petitioner to accept
money for his vote ; and offered your petitioner the pecuniary
means of paying any creditor of the Liberal side who might be
pressing your petitioner to vote for Lord 13e1:ast and Mr. Russ.
That for some stays your petitioner resisted such offers.
" That your petitioner believes that he voted on the third
day's poi That on the morning of the day of his poll
the said two Members of the Committee of the Tory can-
didates again called at the house of your petitioner, and
again pressed your petitioner, and offered your petitioner
twenty pounds for his vote. That your petitioner, under
the pressure of his pecuniary embarrassments, then
agreed to poll as desired; that your petitioner accom-
panied his tempter's to the Committee-room of the late sitting
Members, for the purpose of being put upon a tally of voters.
That your petitioner, after he entered the house occupied by
the Tory Committee, 'became ashamed of his intention, and
returned home without being tallied. That the said two gen-
tlemen immediately followed your petitioner to his house, and
persuaded him to return, and to be placed upon the tally; and
one of them, showing your petitioner 201. in one note of the
Northern Bank of Ireland, promised that sum to your petitioner
after his poll. That your petitioner then asked a neighbour,
who was present, to guarantee the money, who promised to
become responsible for the bargain ; and that your petitioner
then went to the said Committee-room, and was entered on a
tally, and polled the same afternoon for Mr. Tennent and Mr.
Johnson.

" That about eight or nine o'clock in the evening in the
evening one of the said two members of the Tory Committee
came to your petitioner's house (accompanied by the neigh-
bour who had guaranteed payment to your petitioner), and
paid your petitioner a twenty-pound note of the Northern
Banking Company of Ireland.
" That one of the Tory creditors of your petitioner, who had
threatened your petitioner with notice of legal proceedings if
he did not vote for the Conservatives, mainly induced your
petitioner to accept the bribe ; that your petitioner imme-
diately after the receipt of the said twenty pounds paid such
creditor 12/. part of his debt; and the remaining 8/. your
petitioner chiefly paid to other small creditors. That your
petitioner, on the day following his receipt of the said 201. note
changed the said note at the Banking Company's Belfast
Blanch, into one 51. note and fifteen 11. notes.
The money so ill got did not thrive. kmob broke
CRopPEit's windows, insulted his wife, and the Liberals,
who before supported his house, abandoned it altogether.
Ruin began to stare him in the face, and knowing that
it was brought upon him by his vote, he addressed a let-
ter to Mr. EMERSON TENNENT, praying that he might

be appointed to some small place under the Governmen

In the words of a Contemporary, " as you have obtained
a Government situation for yourself," very naturally wrote
this injured man, " I hope you will obtain some small
appointment for me—for me who, by accepting your
twenty-pound bribe have brought ruin upon myself and
family." In some such style, CuoPPEn, of course, wrote
to the Secretary of the Board of Control. That gentle-
man° Was then in Liverpool, and replied promptly and
courteously as follows :

44 Liverpool, August 16, 1841.
" Dear, Sir,—Youll`letter followed me here. In reply to
it I have but to say that it you will point out to me any situa-
tion vacant wl ich you could qualified to fill, ar.d inform me
the quarter su which to apply fur it for you, I will with plea-
sure exert any little influence I may pos.7eo in your favour.
" Most truly yours,
" J. EMERSON 11..NN.ENT.''_

Mr. CROPPER'S embarrusinents increasing, he 'Again
wrote to Mr. TENNENT, who being " most truly" his
friend, he fancied he could not trouble too often. The
Secretary had then arrived in London, shaken hands
with the Premier and the .tubers of the Board, and,
of course, acquired a wonderful accession of dignity. Ile
therefore directed the transmission of the following offi-
cial reply to his quondam " Dear Sir" Correspondent :
" London, March 14.

" Sir—l have received your letter this morning, and the
testimonial which it enclosed, and which I shall present to the
Treasury should any vacancy come to my knowledge that you
would be qualified to fill.

" Your obedient servant,
J. EMERSON TENNENT."
_ Nothing disheartened, Mr. CROPPER made a third
application. Mr. E. TENNENT7S letters are such models
of an intermixture of friendship and business, that we
give his concluding reply :

" The India Board, April 29, 1842.
" Sir,—l have just received your letter of the 26th, and
1 am sorry to say that I have not anything to report to you as
yet, but it is almost too soon to expect it. I will, however,
renew my application.

" I remain, yours obediently,
" J. EMERSON TENNENT."
Driven to utter destitution, poor CROPPER now be-
thought him of coming to London to stimulate the zeal
of his official friend,' the Secretary. In due time he
found hiniself in Cannon-row, and obtained an interview
with Mr. TENNENT. He was then made .to dance at-
tendance daily at the door of Mr. TENNENT'S office, up
to the very day when the petition against the return for
Belfast' was compromised, when Mr. TENNENT, no
longer apprehensive about his disclosures, sent him ten
shillings by a porter, with.orders to return to Belfast, or
in other words to go. about his business.
This narrative needs no comment. Its Force would
be weakened by any attempt to heighten the colour of
the system of villanv which it discloses. Will the
House of Commons refuse an inquiry with respect to
Belfast ? Hear the facts which the petitioner pledges
himself that he will be able to prove :
That an extensive conspiracy existed and was carried into
effect at the last eleetiOn for personification of deceased and eh-
j sent voters, and for the bribery of numerous voters by bribes
varying from 10. to 50/., such conspiracy being arranged and
perpetrated by the Committee and agents of the late sitting
Members. That sets of clothes and Quakers' apparel were
procured for the personator:, and thit the arrangements for
personation and bribery were made in the Committee-rooms
of the sitting Members.
That the said system of fraud was notorious throughout
the days of poll, and must have been known to the said James
Emerson 'lennent and William Gillilan Johnson, although
they may have contrived to be personally unconnected with
the acts of their agents and Committee; and that the said sit_
liave
or cognizantbeen
pa
of parties
sfindtihe meansngsome portion of
of provid-
the ling
money Members
thu mutt
sexpended,
ing for such corrupt expenditure.'
Whether an inquiry into this iniquitous system be
ordered or not, any influence which the Secretary of the
Board of Control ever had with the country is
gone, and the sooner Sir ROBERT PEEL gets rid of
him the better for the character of the Government,
indifferent even as that character is. Mr. EMERSON
TENNENT can be easily replaced at the Board of Control
by a Secretary of niore talent, more modesty, inGre
regard for the purity of Parliament, and more political
consistency. There will be political renegades enough
in the Ministry to endear it to the wavering, without the
support of Mt. JAMES EMERSON TENNENT.

There is no political news of interest in the Paris
Journals. We must, therefore, confine ourselves to the
following brief extracts from them::
The Chamber had its last sitting to-day ;it will only meet
to hear the ordinance for closing the session read. The sitting
was not completely unimportant. The Minister of Corrinerce
repeated his promise to increase the duty on English thread.
The Chamber of Pt ers received to-day the Budget of the
Ways and Means, adopted yesterday by the. Chamber of De-
puties. It retired almost immediately to its bureaux to pro-
ceed to the examination of it.

It is generally supposed that the Chamber of Peers will have