Star.
London, England, 1818-04-02 00:00:00

=g-.-,-
, SLOE POISON !

Greybeards have often wnisper'd me
Beware—s:env poison lies in tea ;
But I have laugb'd to scorn each elf,
Because I never died myself,
And saw no signs of such an end.
Bat now my manners I must mend ;
I must think them prone to lying :
For I have ample proofs that dying
Is very common in the trade
Where sloe-kaves into kw are made,
And what we've lately made such noise on
Discovering—is indeed sloe poison

TO DRITISII MANUFACTURERS.
I beg to address you, Gentlemen, on behalf of a
cause in which, as men and fellow subjects, we are
all deeply interested—the amelioration of the circum-
stances of those whom we employ as operatives in
our various Wianufactures. Many of you, who have
received a liberal education, will, I am sure, acknow-
ledge that it is a subject of great national impor-
tance, and will consider it with more just and enlar-
ged views, than the narrow principles of immediate
gain might suggest. To such it would be presump-
tion in me to offer any explanation of that which
must already be obvious to them ; but there are
others who have not been so fortunate—who have
never had the leisure to study or to think about mat-
ters of this nature ; and for those only are the follow-
ing observations intended :
Practices now prevail in our manufacturing sys-
tem, which have been produced by circumstances,
not under the controul of any individual, and for
which, therefore, ne individual can be justly blamed.
They are, however, notoriously the source of most
grievous evils, and stand in the way of improvements
in the condition of our working classes, which are
essential to the well-being of the State, and u ithout
which indeed its security must rest on a very preca-
rious foundation. I refer to the premature employ-
ment of children ; and to the unreasonable term of
daily labour, now exacted from persons of all ages
who are employed within our manufactories. It is to
these practices we may attribute the worst effects of
the manufacturing system ; and if we permit them
to continue, through mere indifference to the subject,
or from the egregious and fatal delusion that they are
connected with the prosperity of our manufactures,
we must be content to suffer all the evils arising from
the increasing misery and demoralization of the work-
ing classes. But it is my most earnest wish to excite
the public attention to this important question, and to
do away with any delusion that may exist in your
quarter respecting it—to convince you that the conti-
nuance of these practices is directly opposed to every
individual interest in the country ; and that these
fruitful sources of evil may be effectually closed
without even diminishing the immediate gains of the

master manufacturer.
Let us direct our attention, in the first place, to the
unnatural circumstances in which the younger part
of our operatives are now placed. Children are per-
mitted to be employed, almost from infancy, in our
manufactures, all of which are more or less unhealthy.
They are condemned to a routine of long protracted
and unvarying toil within doors, at an age when
their time should be exclusively divided between
healthful exercises in the open air, and their school
education. The utmost violence is thus offered to nd-
tare at their very outset in life. Their intellectual
as well as their physical powers, are cramped and pa-
ralysed, instead of being allowed their proper and na-
tural developement ; while every thing about them
conspires to render their moral character depraved
and dangerous. Without a vigorous constitution and
good habits, children can never become really useful
subjects of the state, nor can their lives be rendered
comfortable to themselves, or uninjurious to others.--
While so many obstacles are unnecessarily opposed to
that mode of training for the rising generation, which
humanity and exped►ency so strongly recommend, so-
ciety is alone to blame for the imbecility and suffering
that may arise within it ; the offspring of our poor
must continue to be squalid and wretched—to be un-
taught for any good, or really useful purpose, but
admirably trained to effect their own misery—desti-
ned to disturb the peace of society in their younger
daps, and at an early period to become a burthen on
the community for the remainder of life, eating that
bread in idleness, which, if the state did justice to
them or to itself, would never be claimed by any, not
naturally infirm, except as the reward of useful in-
dustry. I conceive it to be a fact which consists
equally with the experience of every one of you as it
does with mine, that the labour of a child, strong and
healthy, possessed of intelligence, and of good habits
and dispositions, is infinitely more valuable than of one
who is weak and unhealthy, imbecile in mind, and of
depraved habits and dispositions. But though this
fact is abundantly clear, it may not occur to you to
trace the cause of this difference between the two in-
dividuals, and to perceive that, in almost every case
this great disparity is to be referred altogether to the
di.Terent circumstances under which they have bees
trained and educated. A very little examination and
reflection, however, will convince you that this is the
true state of the case ; and I will not allow myself to
suppose, that in the face of so striking a fact, you will
any longer have any desire to employ the inferior in-
strument, when, by meads of regulations as practica-
ble as they are humane, you may with certainty pro-
cure the best.
No child should be employed within doors in any
manufacture until he is twelve years of age. In
those manufactures in which dexterity of operation is
much more easily acquired by children at an early,
than at a more advanced period of life, they might
perhaps be employed, in order to obtain such facility,
for five or six hours a-day when between ten and
twelve years of age ; but I am of opinion that any
advantage thus procured can be obtained only by
tenfold sacrifices on the part of the children, their
parents, and their country. I think an intelligent
slave master would not, on the sole principle of pe-
cuniary gain, employ his young slaves even tea hours
of the day at so early an age. And we know that ju-
dicious farmers will not prematurely put their young
beasts of burden to work ; and that when they do put
theni to work, it is with great moderation at first, and,
we must remember too, in a healthy atmosphere. But
children from seven to eight years of age are employ-
ed with young persons and men and women of all
ages, for 14 or 15 hours per day, is many of osu