The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-19 00:00:00

under their eye, and mighf leave off when they thought
proper. It was not here as in the cotton mills; their
time was free, and if they overworked themselves it was
their own or their parents' fault. The Noble Lord
sought to bring them under the Chinese system of le-
gislation ; he would have inspectors go into every house
and prescribe the hours of toil. He thought the N ible
Lord meant well, on the whole, but was sometimes led
away by misstatements ; he, Mr. Cobden, would be
very happy, as a practical man, to give the Noble Loid
any information which he might apply for.—(Hear.)
Mr. WAKLEY said that the Right Hon. Gentleman
had, as an act of civility towards the Noble Lord, allowed
him to bring in his Bill ; but the Right Hon. Gentleman
had 'determined to give the Bill the most strenuous
opposition in his power.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM—I studiously avoided making
any such declaration.
Mr. WAKLEY—And las studiously inferred it. He
hinted the Government had determined to give the Bill
all the opposition in their power. If the Noble Lord
prodeeded, and the friends of humanity were moved
in the matter, he anticipated for the Noble Lord a victory
—a splendid victory, and he called upon the Noble Lord
not to be dismayed when he obtained it.—(Hear, hear.)
He should press on his forces after triumph, with the
same ardour es before, until the object was fully accom-
plished. He could not forget what occurred last session.
The Noble Lord did not expect success on a former
occasion, and seemed dismayed when he obtained
it. The Honourable Member for Stockport said
that it was impossible that children of three or
four years of age could be employed in
the manner stated by the Noble Lord, and in this he
agreed with him ; but the Hon. Member had not stated
at what ages they were employed, whether at five, or six,
or seven years, and he refrained from denying the alle-
gations which the Noble Lord had made in moving for
leave to bring in the Bill. A truly painful description
had been given of the toil to which these pour children
were devoted ; and was it possible that the House would
evince so keen a sympathy for foreign slaves, aid not
protect their own infant slaves ?—(Hear, hear.) The
Noble Lord had stated that 25,000 children were so em-
ployed, and from what he could learn, he was induced to
think the system denounced by the Noble Lord was a
system of infant slavery, and, notwithstanding the ob-
servations of his Hon. Friend, the Member for Montrose,
he thought the benevolence of the Legislature could not
be better employed than in rescuing those helpless
creatures from such cruelty and thraldom. It was a dis-
grace to Parliament that they had not striven to remedy
this evil, and he wished the Noble Lord all
the success which his efforts so well merited.
The Noble Lord should, however, extend his researches
and inquiries into the agricultural districts, where he
had found quite as much destitution and suffering as
elsewhere, and, until he did so, his exertions would not
be divested of suspicion and one-sidedness. He would
be very anxious to vote for a Committee to inquire into
the condition of the rural districts. He considered the
question, as the Right Hon. Baronet hat! stated, was
one of profit; bat was profit to be put in competition
with the lives of thousands of poor children?—(Hear,
hear.) In Ireland, men performed the same labour in
calica-printing which was done here by children, which
showed that their services were not essential, and that
they were employed because their wages was less. Re-
garding the question of education, he thought the House
greatly to blame for neglecting it so grossly. His Hon.
Friend (Mr. Hume) said, educate the men ; but he (Mr.
Wakley) said, educate the children, for yon never can
make a bad man a good boy.—(Laughter.) The condition
of the poor of this country, in point of education, was la-
mentable. He entreated the Noble Lord to persevere in
his labours, which would produce the greatest benefits
to society; and he hoped the Noble Lord would live to
see the fruits of his benevolent exertions. But he must
not be dismayed or discouraged when he found himself
unsuccessful, but must go steadily onwards in pursuit of
the great object he had in view.
Mr. MARK PHILLIPS thought it was a matter of
great importance that this question should beapproached
in a candid spirit, and stripped of all exaggeration or
prejudice. The term " slaves " had been applied to
25,000 children employed in a particular branch of
manufactures. He entered his protest against the ap-
plication of such a word, which was wholly inapplicable.
The greater part of the children were brought into the
factory by their own parents, and worked no longer than
their parents pleased. The parents were much more
concerned in their labour than their masters--they were
not bound to work for any specified period, nor to have
a certain quantity of work performed by a certain time
No such thing—their time was free, and so were their
handl, and if they worked long the master did not ask
them. The parent sought to perform a great quantity
of work. and if the energies of the child were over-
taxed, the fault was not, he repeated, the master's, but
the parent's.
Lord ASHLEY, in replying, said that he merely wished
to thank Hon. Members on both sides of the House
for the kindness extended to him. His great desire was
to ameliorate the condition of the children working in
the different branches of their manufactures, and while
preserving his own principles inviolate, he was quite
ready to receive any suggeations advanced by other Hon.
Members upon the subject. Ho was quite ready to con-
cede anything short of the principles ho had ever advk.-
cated upon this subject.
Mr. LABOUCHERE hoped that the Noble Lord
would fix an early day for the second reading of
his measure, as the House and the country were
singularly situated, in consequence of the line taken by
by the Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary for the Rome
Department and the Government upon this question. it e
was surprised that on a question of this nature, involving
principles which had been brought so frequently before
the House, and considering the ample means the Right
Hon. Baronet possessed of inquiring into its operation—
considering the liability that lay upon him of assisting
the Factory Commissioners with his advice and judg-
ment, he (Mr. Labouchere) thought it strange, to say the
least of it, that the Right Hon. Baronet had not given
the House and the country some clue to the intentions of
her Majesty's Ministers. Whatever difference of opinion
might exist upon that question, one thing was mast cer-
tain, that any postponement of the question—or any
mystery as to the intentions of her Majesty's Govern-
ment, would create and keep alive a feeling between the ern•
ployers and the employed, which would be most prejudicial
to both their interests.—(Hear, hear.) It was not his
intention to enter into the merits of the question, or to
argue as to the necessity for this resolution enforcing a
regulation of the hours of labour, but he could not
avoid giving his concurrence to the excellent remarks
made by the Hon. Member for Stockport, that the ob-
servations made by the Noble Lord the Member for
Dorsetshire as to the amount of crime in the manufac-
turing districts, was rather overcharged. His observa-
tions would seem to infer that those crimes were solely
the result of evils peculiarly attending the social system
in the manufacturing districts, and that they could not
be found at all in the agricultural counties. But, with
all these faults, he (Mr. Labouchere) was glad to find a
member of his rank and character stand up in that
House, endeavouring to relieve misery, and to uproot
crimes, which they all acknowledge to exist. But
while admiring the spirit in which the subject
was brought before them, he might be per-
mitted to doubt the utility of the measure
itself, as a preventative to crime. His object in rising,
' however, was simply to express his regret that on a
question of this importance—a question which excited
such intense interest among all classes—a question in-
volving in such a degree the principles of justice and of
humanity, the Right Hon. Baronet had not given a more
decided opinion on the part of the Government.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.
COMMITTEE TO INQUIRE INTO THE MA-