The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-16 00:00:00

Tlyt

r'•!!..a—.

LONDON!
THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 16, 1842.

Lord AsinEy's' Bill was read a second time last night
ithout remark or opposition. No person can contest
w
its importance, and it is scarcely creditable to the House
that it should pass a meas7tre affecting the bulk of the
collier population with less discussion. than it would be-
stow on a Turnpike Bill. But ii the measure have no
interest for the House, it has somefzir the public, and
neither it nor the Report of the Comma49ners meet
with unanimous approbation.
. •

We have, for example, been favoured with an extract
from a yet unpublished Report of the South Shields
Committee, appointed in 1839, for the investigation of
accidents in mines, in which it is stated, with reference
to Lord ASHLEY'S Bill, that to restrict boys going to
work in mines until they have reached the age of twelve,
which is, however, only one year under Lord ASHLEY'S
standard, would tend to restrict the supply of pit-men,
and would throw such obstructions in the way of freely
working the mines, that some of them would be entirely
extinguished, and all NVould be worked at a vastly in-
creased expense. Ultimately that would fall on the
public, and be injurious to our arts and manufactures,
already exposed to serious foreign competition. Already,
too, the fine coal of Belgium, at about uis. per ton, is
confronting with success the finest British in the markets
of Rouen and Marseilles, and may eventually find its
way to other ports, to the displacement of this article of
British exports.
"If pitmen's sons," it says, " are prevented going to their
father's employment, partially to relieve him from the charge,
they will,with his approval seek another, where the restriction
does not apply. And if pitmen's sons turn their backs upon
the ;cities, it be almost impossible to induce the grown-Pp
childsvn of other sections of the community to attempt so irk-
some an employment, or even their parents to sanction it with
*heir popular terror of its nature and its danger. The instances
axe very rare exceptions in which a boy, not originally con-
nected with the miser, ventures upon such an undertaking.
Besides after the age r?f 12, habits are beginning to be formed
and tastes acquired, much snore in accordance with the ordi-
►nary employment on thesnrface; and it is probable that then,
even a pitman's son may have grown into a repugnance to
exchange the bight of day, and the companionship of his fellows
v.hioh most other trades afford, for the solitary darkness of the
mine• and its confined and severe :labour."

Now that we think is a very :serious consideration for
those who, without being very intimately acquainted
with the labour of colliers, undertake to restrict the age
at which children may begin to acquire the habit of
living and working in the bowels of the earth. There
tire a great many arts which, being naturally difficult or
disagreeable, must be acquired young, or the mind and
body can never be drilled into liking and skill. 3linlog
is one of these, and humanity will not be promoted by
preventing the repugnance to it being conquered
in very early life. We say nothing of na-
tional. prosperity, but we believe that the well
being:. of the population would not be increased
byplaoing impediments in the way of the collier youth
acquiring almost from infancy the, habit of that toil which
is in after life to be their daily lot.
The" provincial journals, we see by the Manchester
Guardian, are beginning to find out that Lord ASIILEY'S
enactments " will be very severely felt in districts where
a large portion of the female population is so employed ;
end, where no othet means of employment are in ex-
istence, many cases of great hardship will necessarily
arise.." _Those who support Lord ASHLEY'S Billsay that it
will only compel the drunken husbands to labour more,
and, without lessening the wages of a family, will make
the male gain the whole ; but those who make that as-
sertion have not studied the Report. We have already
quoted the case of MARGARET BAXTER, a widow 50
years old, by whose 'labour, for 12 years after her hus-
band was unfit for work, her family was maintained.
There are numerous inst. vices .in the Report of women
who have lab°4red many' yearn: in the pit. Such as
BETTY 'HARDMAN, 38 years old, -went into the pit when
she was 7, has had eight c hildrt n ; BETTY WARDLE,
who has worked in a pit sincct she was 6 years old, and
has had four children ; .I"AxE Jor,-ws, aged .39, «ho
mist 74 years old when her uncle ,'rat yoked her to the
carve,' her father and mother I. *iv; dead ; JANE PEA-
COCK, who is 40 years old, and ha s \ vrotight 33 years
in the bowels oF the earth. Tirere are many
more who have been accustomed to work in the pit
20, 30, or 40 years, whose habits are formed to that
species:of labour, whose subsistence depends on it, and
to theiti,it will be A great hardship tco be at once deprived

44=thIrinotte"dxgarfitnrtheirtitelut Tut t
Lord ASHLEY Meatis well, but it 'is, a sad, mistake to
suppose.that he can add to the comfoii 0r such persons.,
and convert them all at onoe into neat, thrifty house-
wives by Act of Parliament. He will dO them great injury,
even if be can per,tuade the Legislature to give them
,ps,nsions equal to the wages of which he will deprive
them.

The Report of the Commissioners, as well as the Bill
founded on it, is beginning to excite contradiction and
opposition. The coal trade of Newcastle have answered,
and contradicted, seriatim, nearly every paragraph of the
Commissioners' Report. To quote one example, with
respect to the little trappers being without light and
without companions, and almost in solitary confinement
of the worst kind, as asserted by the Commissioners, the
Coal trade says:— .

" This is a very erroneous and exaggerated statement.
The working trap-doors are all placed in the principal passages,
leading from the bottom of the pit to the various works, so that
an interval of seldom more than five minutes, but generally
much less, passes without some person passing hrough his door
and having a word with the trapper. Neither is the trapper de-
prived of light by any means general, as the stationary lights
(lamps) on the roily and tram ways are frequently placed near
to the trapper's seat."

This is confirmed incidentally by the Report of the
South Shields Committee, above alluded to, in which
some dreadful accidents are mentioned, as the results of
the trappers having neglected their doors to go and play .
with other boys.
Before the Bill is further proceeded with, we shall, we
hope, be able to lay before our readers some further
evidence of the mistakes and exaggerations into which
the Commissioners, without designing it, have fallen.
We must now close by warning the Legislature to be
careful how it brands a useful and necessary occupation
by a hasty enactment. There are difficulties and dangers
enough connected with mining to appal the stoutest
hearts which are not familiarised with them from infancy;
and it would be, as we have already said, a much wiser
plan, if the Legislature must of necessity gratify its
yearnings after the reputation of benevolence by inter-
fering with the colliers, were it to limit the hours in
each day during which boys may be employed in mines,
and place no limitation as to the age at which they may
begin to learn their dangerous occupation.

We are much puzzled, both by the actions and words
of Sir ROBERT PEEL. He has, in his tariff, made sun-
dry abatements in Customs' duties, with a view, as he
expressly stated, to encourage trade. He has levied an
Income-tax, in order to spare industry, and he has per-
mitted the introduction of cattle, to promote cheapness.
On Mon day night, however, he obstinately clung to the
duty on exported coals, which can have no other effect
than te. check trade and deprive the people of employ-
ment. There is no consistency, then, either in his lan-
guage or his conduct, and he puts down one day some-
thing he has put up the day before.
We confess that we are quite at a loss for any clue to
his conduct. He seems only to adhere to the multifarious
practices which many Ministers, acting on different
principles, at different times, have introduced into our
laws. At one time he protects native industry, at an-
other he taxes it ; one day he is all for supporting pro-
perty, and the day after he insists that it shall bear all
his new burdens. If we had not heard him dwell with
great emphasis on France taxing coal, on Prussia taxing
coal, and on Holland taxing coal, we should have been
-wholly unable to account for his taxing coal. When we
heard him say those things, however,, we knew at once
that the spirit of envy and imitation were strong
in him, and he resolved to tax the export of coal
because they taxed the import. They tax it to encourage
coal digging at home, and he taxed it to follow their
example. They get a revenue from coal, so will he.
Our contempt for this man, and for his shallow shuffling
with the national happiness, grows on us daily. We have
now come, however, to wonder more at the patience of
the people under his quackery than at his undaunted
boldness in daily administering remedies which neutralize
each other.

We are scarcely sur prized at the inhabitants of the
Cape of Good Hope petitioning the Legislature by the
hands of Lord JOHN Itusszu„ last night, for a repre-
sentative government., They have suffered most of the
evils which are usually experienced by the inhabitants
of Crown colonies. The administration has been arbi-
trary, capricious, and extravagant. They have grown
rapidly in prosperity, though a large portion of the popu-
lation has been driven, by real, or fancied, injuries, out
of the colony; and though the colony has been overlooked
or neglected by the authorities at home, they even com-
plain that the colony has been depreciated and injured
by official misrepresentations. They seek therefore for
a representative government, to secure for themselves a
regular administration of their affairs, and a protection
against official idleness or ignorance.
It may serve to justify their demand, 'if we lay before
our readers, an example or two of the progress of the
colony :
I was in this colony (said a Mr. Prince, at a recent meeting
of an agricultural society at the Cape) before the British emi-
grants arrived, and perfectly well recollect, when the whole
business of the Eastern provinces of this colony was carried on
with one old ship—the Young Phoenix, belonging to Messrs.
Hoets and Korsten,_ the latter of whom was the only person of
business there ; and now, gentlemen, permit me to ask you,
and I do with pride and exultation, what is the value and ex-
tent of the agriculture, trade, and commerce of the Eastern
provinces of the Cape colony ?
I hold in my hand a statement of the colonial produce which.
was exported from the colony for the year ending the 10th
October, 1841, which, with permission, I will read and com-
ment on. The first article is wine, of which about 8,000 pipes
were exported, the declared value of which is 65,095/.
The next article is that all-important one, wool, of which I
perceive 1,060,4481b5, was exported last year—valued at 51,606/.
The production of this article may be increased to an almost
unlimited extent. We have land in abundance, and good land
too, inviting people to occupy it. We have upwards of 3,000,000
of sheep in the colony, whereof, perhaps, at present about
600,000 are wool-bearing animals. The colony is capable,
beyond doubt, of supporting and maintaining nine millions of
sheep, which in a few years would, with capital to purchase
rams and labour to tend them, render each, in wool, 35., or a sum
of 1,350,0001. Gentlemen, this statement is not an extravagant
one. Thirty years ago New South Wales had few or no sheep:
she imported the whole of her original stock from abroad ; and
the last year's value of the wool was 560,000/. Now, gentlemen,
if we set heartily about it, and persevere for a few years, what,
I ask you, is to prevent our converting the whole of our long-
haired, thick-tailed animals, into wool-giving sheep? and who
is there, then, who can fix a limit to the quantity and value of
wool this colony will produce?
It is, we believe, because these colonists feel their
growing power, that they are anxious to have legitimate
organs to give effect to their own will. We applaud
their spirit. Our ancestors made this a great nation, by
insisting upon the principle of self-government ; and
there is no surer sign of a pure descent and undegenerated
race, than to follow their example. We should think
meanly of the colonists at the Cape, if they did not de-
mand what has been conceded to Newfoundland.

DR. TURNBULL.—It Will be seen by reference to
an article which we have copied from the Literary
Gazette, that our eminent friend, Dr. TURNBULL, goes
on his course rejoicing. The public are already
aware of his great, his beneficial discovery in re-
storing the deaf and dumb. But wonderful as that
discovery was, we are apt to think his recent success
in curing the blind is still more so. It is the divine
attribute of true genius, never to rest satisfied in the
march of improvement, but to urge still onwards,
diffusing knowledge for the benefit of mankind.
Such has hitherto been the happy labour of Dr.
TURNBULL, and we hope he will long live to command
the hearty gratitude of his fellow-men. One active
man of genius stimulates a hundred others to benefit
the world by his example.

GERMAN OPERA.
COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

Mademoiselle Lutzer, the prima donna of the Opera at
Vienna, and decidedly the first female singer of Germany,
made her first appearance before an English audience last even-
ing at this theatre, in the character of Isabella, in Meyerbeer's
opera of Robert the Devil. In personal appearance this young
lady is most prepossessing her figure is perfect sym-
metry, her features regularly beautiful and most ex-
pr',..ssive, her complexion that clear blonde which may
be co'nsidered as the characteristic of German beauty, and
her eyes of that peculiarly deep blue, which is so admirably
adapted foe impassioned expression. Her voice is a pure
soprano, cleat', rich, expressive, and powerful. It has been
cultivated to the 'highest pitch of perfection. Those who re-
collect Mademoisei7e Sontag cannot fail to be struck with the
great resemblance in penon, voice, and acting, which Made-
moiselle Lutzer bears to her. As a musician, however,
Alademoiselle Lutzer is eertain;;ther superior, and is well de-
serving of the title which the unanimous suffrages of her
countrymen have awarded her, 1° the Nightingale of Ger-
many." Her opening scena in the third act was magnificent, and
was rapturously applauded. The dueew ith Robert in the same act
was exquisitely given, and her acting in this scene was of the
highest order. Nothing could exceed the pathos with which she
gave the beautiful cavatina, Robert mein Geliebter ; and when
at its conclusion, she throws herself at his feet in an agony of
tears—the tears of her auditors bore silent witness to her tran-
scendant histrionic powers. It is needless to say, that she
was rapturously applauded throughout, and that at the' fall of
the curtain she was called for, and greeted with that enthu-
3iagre, which her personation of the character of Isabella could
not fail to excite. For science, for expression, for pathos, few
can equal her. We look forward to her appearance on Monday-
in the Huguenots, in anticipation of a great treat, and we trust
That she will remain with us until the conclusion of the season.
the house was very well attended.

JUNE 11.—The agent of a
HAVRE, Liverpool
Steam-packet Company has been here inquiring into the port
and harbour does for steam-vessels. The Liverpool Company
is about to put on two vessels to run between Southampton
and thi= port, in opposition to the South Western and South of
England Companies. The consequence of the
.opposition
will be, that the fares will be reduced considerably, The Li..
verpoid Company will run also a vessel between Southampton
and the Channel Islands.
HYDROPROBIA.—The Lord Mayor's proclamation
for the confinement of dogs, or to have them staciently muz-
zled during the present very warm weather, to prevent •that
dreadful malady, hydrophobia, is little better than a dead
letor; swarms of dogs, without muzzles, being to be daily
seen running along the streets unmolested by the police or any
body else.