The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-18 00:00:00

nit' „sun.

LONDON :
MONDAY MORNING, JULY 18, 1842.

The compromise on the Collieries Bill, seems to
us to have placed the Legislature in a singular
position. It postpones the clause concerning the
females working in mines, till the Ist of March—it
substitutes the age of ten for the age of thirteen, at
which boys are to be admitted into the mines—it
abstains from regulating their hours of employment
—it gives up the inspectors—it merely diminishes
the years of apprenticeship, without abolishing
It, and it allows persons to be placed in charge
of engines when
.they are fifteen years of age.
Everybody must admit, and Lord ASHLEY and his
friends must vehemently assert that these regulations,
which fall so far short of what they proposed, are
completely inadequate to correct the evils in col-
lieries. They are most imperfect as a code for regulat-
ing labour in them. At the same time; by touching
the matter at all, the Legislature makes itself respon-
sible both for what it does, and for what it leaves un-
done. Till March next, it sanctions the abomination
of women working in the mines. It sanctions that
'which has been stigmatized as a cruel employment of
children. It sanctions practices which have been said
to be vicious and degrading to both sexes, and highly
derogatory to the national character. By touching
this subject, which it ought never to have done, un-
less it could completely regulate; every part of it, the
Legislature has made itself chargeable with the whole,
and has.taken on:itself all the:odium which belongs to
continuing the cruelties described in the Report of the
Commissioners. It would have been much better for
the character of Parliament, as we advised it, not to
have meddled with the matter. Under the impulse,
11,)weyer; of blind benevolence it has relieved the coal-
owners and the colliers from their responsibility, and
' taken that all on itself. We preshme the house of
Commons must, for its own sake, throw out the
amended Bill which the Lords will send down to it.
By passing that Bill, it will sanction all the enor-
wities which are left uncorrected.

The most important news brought by the Britannia
Arrived at Liverpool, having left Halifax on the 6th
hist., is, that President TYLER has vetoed a Bill passed
by the Congress to Suspend the Compromise Act.
This third exercise of the veto power had excited a
considerable -sensation in Congress, and Mr. ADAMS
was one pf the fore Most in denouncing it as unconsti-
tutional. Mr. WISE defended it. It certainly is as
strong an act of monarchical authority as could be
practised by any Sovereign of Europe; and may give
rise to some alteration in the American Constitution.
In the State of Rhode island there has been a
regular rebellion headed by a Mr. Doan, who had
formed an entrenched camp, and made considerable pre-
parations for a fight. The approach of the troops, and
the proclamatien of martial law, caused the insurgents
to throw down their arms and disperz.•. Mr. DORE
escaped, but a considerable number of persons was ar-
rested, and a considerable quantity of arms, including
six-pieces of artillery, captured. The force of the in-
surgents is said to have amounted to 1,500 men.

These papers bring no confirmation of the reported
insurrection in Hayti. They contain advices from the
West Indies of a later date than the former intelli
genre, and nothing is said in them of the deposition of
President BOY a.

The Royal Agricultural Society, which terminated
itsproceedings at Bristol, on I'riday, deserves from us
a brief notice. The meeting on that occasion is said
to hare far excel', .
ed
.th:, splendour of its festivi-
ties, the exceilency of itsarrangernents, the number
of its members, and in the quality of the stock and
implments exhibited, any of its predecessors.
Though we are.noVbe,kward, we hope, in doing
homage to the vast skill displayed in our manufactu.

ring districts, and admire more than we can well ex- I
press, the inimitable machinery which is therebrought
into operation, being thoroughly convinced, too, that its
moral effects—reducing all who have to use it, into
habits of order and regularity—are as beneficial as its
effects in abridging labour, yet are we well convinced
that agriculture, which supplies the bulk • f our sub-
sistence, lies at the foundation of all our greatness,
and deserves far more than the meretricious arts
which merely contribute to the splendour of a few,
the hearty approbation of all reasonable • men. We
are glad, therefore, to see that art fostered and en-
couraged by our nobility and gentlemen, and glad to
see their meetings attended by distinguished strangers,
who will spread the fame of English agriculture
over the wide world.

Though we are extremely hostile to the absurd,
wicked, and unsuccessful attempt of our law-makers
to promote its improvement, as they say, by plun,
dering and starving the rest of the community, we
quite agree with Earl SPENCER in wishing for its
improvement, and he placed the improvement which
has already been made on its right basis, and accu-
rately described its relative extent when he said—
" What has raised this our country to be so great
among the other nations of the world ? It is the union
of our agriculture, our manufactures, and our commerce,
which renders this little island—which, if you look at
it on the map, seems but a spot before the eye—one of
the most, if not the most powerful nation of the world.—
(Cheers.) It is the united energies cf your people
which have excited them to the accumulation of wealth,
that has raised this country in the scale of nations, and
made us what we are, and, I hope in God, shall long
continue to be.—(Great cheering.) These three great
interests are intimately connectdtogether. It is one of
the wise dispensations of Providence, that the people of
this country, and, indeed, of any country, shall be
dependent on one another If any of the great interests
to which I have referred Jail, depend upon it the others
will soon feel the effect of the loss. Gentlemen, with respect
to the manufactures of this nation we know that enor-
mous strides have been made ;and that the manufactures of
our country have absorbed into themselves the advan-
tages of every scientific discovery, and the British
manufacturers have applied to them every advantage
which the improvements in chemical science have en-
abled them to do. With regard to our agriculture,
gentlemen, though it has not hitherto applied to the ex-
tent which I hope it will soon apply, the advantages of
scientific improvement to our practical knowledge, yet,
gentlemen, I am confident that the station of our agricul-
ture stands very high—if not the highest among all na
tions of the world.—(C heers.) I speak this of agridul-
ture generally ; but if I were to speak only of our do-
mestic animals, there could be then, no doubt that we
stand very far indeed before any other country in the
breed of our domestic animals as we stand before them
in the skill and prosperity of our manufactures."
It is, indeed, too plain to need any proof, that our
agriculture, as the bulk of its produce is raised for
sale, must find more encouragement in the increasing
demands of the consumers, and more effectual means
of improvement, than in all the meetings of all the
societies that ever existed, and in all the laws that
ever were made. What would become of agriculture
without customers ? What could meetings do if
there were no buyers ? It is, therefore, by the com-
prehensive machinery erected in our manufacturing
districts, which has called into life and wealth the
huge towns of Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, and
half London—though pro-Corn-law writers con-

tinually deride it—that our agriculture, aswell as our

commerce and manufactures, has been made to flourish.
Lord SPENCER is truly sensible of this, and he
proclaims aloud to those weak and silly persons who
decry machinery, and seek to arrest the progress of
manufacturing prosperity, that " if any one of these
great interests falls, the others will soon feel the
effects of the loss." To] keep down manufactures,
to stint commerce, and to crush the rising democracy
of the towns, are the suicidal objects of those pro-
Corn-law legislators, who pretend to desire the
aggrandisement and improvement of agricuiture.
Lord SPENCER is not one of these; he is an enlight-
ened friend to both agriculture and manufactures.
We are well pleased to see the British Agricultural
Society endeavouring to improve agriculture by the
application of science. It is right, as the landlords cut
off the supply of food from abroad, that they should
extend cultivation at home ; but when they have done
so, where will they obtain a market for their produce ?
The manufacturers already produce a great deal more
than the landowners and all the agricultural classes
can purchase. The agriculturists do not want more
calicos, and fustians, and muslins, and they will not
give away their produce. For what, then, will they
exchange their increased produce ? Will they send
it abroad ? For England, to export agricultural pro-
duce she must reduce its cost, or prices must fall below
the level of other countries. The landlords say that
is ruin. We must inform them, however, that they can
get no equivalents for their increased produce but by
encouraging manufactures, and we warn them if
they do not unchain manufactures, and allow com-
merce to go free, that agricultural- improvements
will speedily end in their own ruin. The only way
in which they can get equivalents for new produce,
is to allow the merchants and manufacturers to bring
them from abroad; and to retain restrictions on trade,
while they promote the application of science to agri-
culture, is like a man setting out vigorously on a
journey with his right leg, while he persists in
chaining his left leg to a wall.

In another part of the paper will be found a
lengthened report of the entertainment given to Sir
Allan Macnab, on Friday, previous to his return
to Canada. His spirited conduct during the insur-
rection deserves every praise, and we have no doubt
that in times of peace he will be found still the same
patriot, anxious to increase the resources of his native
country, and perpetuate its union with Great Britain.