Star.
London, England, 1819-06-26 00:00:00

• A 'Meeting

'A
f
l
1 •

.111 1
i I rl'
-. / -

was yesterday held at the Freemasons'
Towers, 'Lincoln's-inn-fields, for the purpose of pro-
motingshe general use of machines to cleanse chim-
nies, instead of employing 'children to climb them.
The Chair was to have been taken by his Royal
highness the Duke of Sussex, at one o'clock precise,
ly; but was not taken till a short time after two by
tie Honourable GREY BENNETT, who informed the
Meeting, that he had just received a letter from his
it Highness, stating his inability to attend at the
appointed time, owing to the urgency of some unex-
pected private liminess. The letter also declared,
that no man could have the cause tor which the Meet-
idg was called more at heart than he had, and ex-
pressed his intention of being preient at it before it
was dissolved, if he could dispatch the business by
which he was then engaged.
Mr. BENNETT then opened the business of the Mee*.
iag, in a speech of some- length. He detailed tiro'
various endeavours which had been made, both in
Parliament and out of Parliament, to obtain the into*
ference of the Legislature fur the protection of *e
Wants of both sexes engaged in chimney sweeping.
and stated that this interference had become of late
years more necessary thadit had even been formerly,
owing to the chimnies of modern houses being built
ois a much narrower scale than those of the older
ones. Would the Meeting credit the assertion •
the flues of modern chimnies were generally not moo
than six inches square, and that children were forced
trp to clear them?—{Hear). That the children
the lower classes must be subject to greater and motes
numerous privations than those of the middling
upper classes, he would willingly admit; but was it,
therefore, proper that they s:iould be turned into
mops and brooms in order to do that which could be
as well, if not better, accomplished by means of
machinery?—(Applause). As a man and as a Chris-
tian he mast protest against such cruel and unnatural
conduct; indeed, so fully was he convinced of the
necessity of putting a stop to it, that he had intro-
duced two Bills into the House of Commons for that
purpose. The latter of them bad passed through all
its stages in that House without incurring opposition
from any quarter of it. The Surveyor of the Board
of Works had expressed his approbation of it; the
master chimney-sweepers had agreed to the propriety
of its different clauses; no party seemed inclined to
oppose it. He, therefore, had anticipated, that the
measure would also meet the concurrence of the House'
of Lords. What therefore was his astonishment,
what was the astonishment of every friend of huma-
nity in the country; at finding it rejected by that
Eight Honourable House? Though he could not
communicate any news to them at the present
moment, he thougt4ir that he and they might antici-
pate a happier result in their future exertions in this
cause. As the present Session of Parliament would
in all probability die away by the middle of the next
month, it would be too late to introduce a new Bill
during its continuance; but, in the ensuing Session,
he would pledge himself to do every thing within hi*
power to rescue those unfortunate beings, whose lot,
they all commiserated, from an infancy of pain,
misery, and disease ; and from an age o' crime and
guilt, and every species of atrocity. The Honoura-
ble Gentleman then concluded by lamenting the ab-
sence of the Duke of Sussex, who was so much better
able than he was to conduct the business of such an
assembly—( Hear).

Mr. TOOK then !aid, that he would not weaken the
effect of what had fallen from the lips of the Honour-
able Chairman, by any observations of his own. He
Should merely propose that the Meeting do adopt the
following form of Petition to the House of Lords.
• Of the Petition, which was very long, we present
the following abstract to our Readers, as it contains
a history of the steps which have been taken by the
Society to supersede the necessity of Climbing Boys:
It began by stating, that in the year 1788, a Bill
was brought into Parliament for regulating the trade
of Chimney-sweepers, and for the protection of the
toys employed in it, which was passed into a law ;
but, unfortunately, all the most efficient clauses pro-
posed were omitted in the progress of it through the
Rouse of Lords ; that this Act was the only one now
in force relating to the said trade; that it was so am:
biguods in its phraseology, and in other respects so
iAcorrect, that it was a most difficult matter to obtain
a conviction against any person who offended against
its enactments ; that the notorious acts of oppression
and ill usage to which Climbing Boys are liable, be-
yond any other employment whatsoever in which
boys of tender years are engaged, having excited
much of the attention and commiseration of all classes
of the public, another application was made to the
Legislature in the year 1801,, for the mere regulation
of the trade, and which being supported by the Mas.
ter Chimney-sweepers, and not at all opposed from
any other quarter, passed the House of Commons,
but was rejected in the House of Lords at the third
reading ; that many 'serious casualties had occurred
to several Climbing Boys in the interval, attended
with loss of life, disease, &c. that upon a representa-
tion of them, a Committee was in 1817 appointed by
the House of Commons to inquire into the truth of
them, which recommended a Bill to be brought in
for preventing the further use of Climbing Boys in
sweeping chimnies; that, in consequence of such re-
commendation, a Bill was in 1817 brought in and
passed by the louse of Commons ; that, an its intro-
duction into the House of Lords, a Committee was'
appointed to examine into the statement of 'facts
which had been made in the Report of the Commons;
in - ^e. of such examination, • they re-
allow the Surveyor-

machinery now in use for
consequence, the Sur-
only 10 out of 1,000
machinery without pre-
ten difficult flues exis-
public offices; that, as
another Bill was, in 1818,
-as; but the provisions
iew to the ultimate
climbing flues, objections
universal practicability
the first-rate class of
' the Bill was theee.
that in the early part of
Bill, only delaying the
period, was also rejected

I
I
'
I -
Li

,
il i .
1 i . .ll
, ti
t I
~ :
) 1
" 1
1 :
-
a •
./
'
0
11•11
I
liii

that, in consequence of such ex;
quested the Prince Regent to al
General to examine the machin
sweeping chimnies; that, in con
veyor-General had stated, that
flues were impracticable for mac]
vious alteration, but that such ten
ted only in large mansions or put
the result of such Reports, anothe
• • passed in the House of Commons
thereof being framed with a vie
• •
.111- abolition of the practice of climbii
• . wore made thereto, until the unit/
. , -•a machinery, particularly, in tin
•,bovises, could be established, and
upon rejected by the Lords ;-that
• ' the present Session, a similar Bill,
ultimate abolition to a later perioc

• 'A...1, .
' • .4,*"&.F:fiat
1110 40104mim=
I-Army sivEsPiko. .